Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

I want to begin by congratulating the Expresso newspaper for its initiative in organizing a Conference on a topic that, after a period of some somnolence, is again being considered and is now starting to be included in Portugal’s agenda: the Sea.

In a Conference recently organized by the main Portuguese entrepreneurial associations, upon the Initiative of the Lisbon Chamber of Commerce, I stated that exploiting the sea, as one of the Country’s relevant resources, should be an important national objective. An objective common to all of us, to which we should all contribute.

The Expresso newspaper, it is fair to say, is one of the organs of the media that has given fuller consideration to the reintroduction of the topic of the sea into Portuguese strategic thinking.

As far as I’m concerned, I have tried to contribute towards this collective target, calling people’s attention to the clearly unsatisfactory relationship that we maintain with the sea and appealing towards the exploit of its enormous potential.

I have insisted, in effect, on the idea that the sea should become a national priority. On a par with important national issues such as education and qualification of the Portuguese, increase in productivity and in the competitiveness of the economy, or even the credibility of the justice system, we should concentrate our efforts on this new issue: to take full advantage of the sea, as a natural resource and as a basis for the expansion of our economic activity.

It is important that we embrace new issues, particularly in times of crisis such as we are going through these days. It is vital that we develop novel business ideas, with a view to the building of new industries and services. The sea must be one of these issues.

In times of deep crisis such as that we are crossing, we cannot afford the luxury to continue wasting one of our main natural resources.

In my view, there are many reasons that sustain placing a stake on the sea. Portugal has a set of physical advantages that result from its being a country extended over the sea, between continents, in the centre of important business and maritime transport routes; it possesses the largest Exclusive Economic Area in the European Union and it is working on the demarcation of one of the world’s largest continental platforms.

These are the advantages – centrality of its location in the world and dimension – that provide realism on the potential of the Portuguese sea.

In addition, Portugal still has, in the sea, its best image, built upon the centuries it has been linked to the oceans. Such an image, in itself prestigious, if well guided and exploited, could clearly bring benefits for Portuguese maritime goods and services.

Portugal has sufficient strategies, studies and plans, including those inserted in the Report of the Ocean Strategy Committee or in the Study of the Sea Hyper-cluster, to take firm steps as to the stake it should place on the sea.

One other reason that seems to me to be determinant in order to justify investment in sea linked activities is the clear underutilization of this resource in Portugal. We are today one of the West European countries that obtains less employment and less wealth from the sea. The years of abandonment of this enormous sector and the absence of significant investment shows that, in many industries or activities, we start from a level that allows us to benefit from a considerable growth potential.

Finally, when placing a stake on the economy of the sea, we are betting on a new centrality for Portugal. Not the country where Europe ends anymore, but the Country where the sea and the world begin. Instead of viewing ourselves as a peripheral country and regretting our geography, we will be able to view ourselves as a country located between continents, in the logistics of world transport, and that has been able to take advantage of this positioning.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

One of the merits of this Conference is to approach not just the traditional maritime activities, but all the areas of particular relevance to the Portuguese sea economy.

Ports and maritime transport, although traditional sea sectors, are none the less essential to its exploit. These are two sectors that are strongly interconnected and that are the “hard core” of a sustained investment based on the potential of the oceans. Without these sectors, without strengthening them, Portugal will never again be a maritime country.

However, although the main Portuguese ports are now showing signs of positive growth, the truth is that the full reform of the port systems has not yet been completed and we are thus unable to accept the sector of current maritime transport that is currently available to us.

Duly developed ports and maritime transport are in turn instrumental to another great area of sea economy: energy.

In effect, it is through our ports that we receive 80% of the energy we consume. Portugal possesses, in the port of Sines, one of Europe’s few LPG terminals. This is one of our strategic assets that must be enhanced and, if possible, reproduced, with our know-how, in other locations or in other European countries.

The sea is not just relevant as a means of transport for oil or natural gas. It is today essential to energy production – 40 percent of the oil and 60 percent of the natural gas that we consume in Europe today is obtained from the sea – and, very possibly, will continue to have, also in this perspective, considerable importance.

Finally, the sea is an interesting factor for the development of renewable energies. The European Union Climate and Energy Package allows no room for doubt: these industries are essential to achieve the objectives agreed for 2020, specifically the generation of 20% in renewable energy. It is for this reason that we have seen, in the last few years, a veritable rush towards the building of offshore wind farms in the North Sea. In the European context, Portugal has available the greatest maritime areas and strong natural resources – wind and waves – of which it should take due advantage.

Also in the area of maritime live resources Portugal has to be awakened. Considering the high volumes of per capita fish consumption, more than double the average figures for the European Union, it is surprising that we do not lay out increased efforts for its production. The deficit of our external trade balance in fish products has surpassed 800 million euros in 2009. For a country that is obliged to reduce its imports and increase its exports, this must be an issue requiring serious consideration.

Another large sector or number of sectors that should be considered as strategic for Portugal is the coastal and maritime tourism, a topic that I believe will be the object of a specific panel in this Conference.

Cruise tourism has been a case of success in Europe and in Portugal in the last decade. There must be ambition and objectives set to arrange for the increase of departures and arrivals from and to Portugal, which demands not just the development of infrastructures of port reception, but, above all, the development of enhanced cooperation between all the involved agents, including the municipalities of the port cities, their hotels and their airports.

Ladies and Gentlemen

This Conference will be closed by the European Commissioner for Maritime Issues. We hope that the European Integrated Maritime Policy, the setting up of which, in 2007, was an enormous progress for the linking of Europe to the sea, may reach the set objectives, specifically the creation of a maritime area without barriers that will facilitate sea transport and the so called sea motorways, which are late in becoming consolidated. We hope that a new impulse will be given to the Directive on the Protection and Preservation of the Marine Environment and to the development of offshore renewable energies, as well as to the fight against the impact of climatic change in the maritime and coastal areas. We equally hope that the Commission will be able to present to the Member States a clear proposal on the fundamental topic of spatial maritime planning, as well as an acceptable strategy for the Atlantic, after having done so for the Baltic and for the Mediterranean.

I conclude, appealing to the European Commission to renew its commitment with the sea and that it proposes to the Member States devices for action and material aid in such relevant areas as I have just referred to.

I equally appeal to Government and Parliament, that they do not limit themselves to view the sea through segmented and fragmented initiatives and, especially, that they should support the economy of the sea.

And finally, by urging civil society – and the economic agents, in particular – to understand that the weight of a country’s geography is important for the route to its future, and to observe the potential and the opportunities offered by the sea.

The sea is not a solution for all the issues that Portugal is facing. But the truth is that we will greatly diminish our growth options when leaving aside our main natural resource. It is thus time to get rid of the complexes that hinder rationality and to take firm steps in our approach to the sea. It is time to face it, not as a symbol of the past, but as a target for the future, a wager that will bring us better economic development and better quality of life.

Thank you very much.