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

Minister of Finance
Chairman of COTEC
Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to welcome those who are present here today and specially, in this occasion, the representatives of COTEC associated companies as well as the PME Inovação (SMEs Innovation) network that participated in this afternoon’s meeting.

I was told this initiative had great success: both for the subjects’ selection and the speakers’ profile and quality, who shared their experiences and assessments on such relevant subjects as growth through internationalization, challenges in the energy sector and innovation applied to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Globalization Council, Marcelo Odebrecht, Naher Taher and Gary Bridge, for having accepted to participate in this afternoon’s event.

I would also like to welcome those who, tomorrow, will participate in another meeting of the Globalization Council.

As you all know the Globalization Council is a forum organized by COTEC, under the high patronage of the President of the Portuguese Republic, which tries to bring together high profile business leaders from all over the world to debate in an informal environment upon the complex problems that globalization rouses among companies, societies and contemporary economies.

It is my intention that from this Council emerges a mutually enriching exchange of knowledge and experience between local and foreign entrepreneurs. The Globalization Council is in itself a global forum, which allows us to benefit from a comprehensive and realistic vision on the three subjects that are going to occupy us throughout the year.

The first deals with the market’s penetration strategies in the XXIst century. We’re aware that many internationalization experiences, both of companies from the “developed economies” and from the “emerging economies”, didn’t always come up to the expected results. One of the main goals of this debate is therefore to set the foundations of a more fruitful interaction between companies and world markets.

The second subject is included in the topic “Innovation in a Global World”, which is deliberately broad so that the debate can take place with major openness and little constraints, while looking for answers to questions like: which is the innovation’s true role in a company’s success? How can innovation be managed and diffused throughout the companies that operate on a world scale? Which initiatives should governments pursue to promote global innovation?

The third and last subject to be debated has to do with the role of the private equity that, as you well know, has had a growing importance in funding the global economy. Thus it plainly justifies the question we all ask ourselves in this exact moment: will private equity be a good or bad friend?

I don’t expect definitive answers to emerge from this meeting in Sintra. It would be unrealistic. But it is rather positive that we don’t have definitive answers to the questions roused by the globalization. It’s thus a sign of the economies’ vitality, of their permanent dynamism and of the freedom with which businessmen operate. In a world where companies act freely and where competition is fierce, there’ll hardly be any predefined recipes or closed answers. To build the path one has to go through it. But I believe we all have something to win if we have a better knowledge of that path.

Thank you all for participating in these Meetings, which I consider to be not only a stimulus but an important contribution for a better understanding of the contemporary world. Doubtlessly a complex world, marked by strong asymmetries from where risks and menaces arise; but also a world made of enriching differences and new opportunities.

I’ve recently inaugurated an exhibition in the United States called “Encompassing the Globe”, which notably illustrates Portugal’s universal vocation and pioneering in the discovery of new lands, new cultures and new people. I would say that “Encompassing the Globe” is, in a certain way, the goal of the Globalization Council during the meeting that will bring us together again tomorrow in Sintra.