Welcome to the Official page of the State Visit to India

Honourable Minister of State and Foreign Affairs of India,
Honourable Minister for Economy and Innovation of Portugal,
Mister President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
Distinguished businessmen and guests,

I am delighted to address this distinguished assembly and I would like to greet you all and thank the Honourable Minister of State and Foreign Affairs for his kind words.

In addition to reflecting a remarkable co-operation effort between the three largest and most emblematic of India’s business associations, this Forum is an initiative of fundamental importance to the desirable strengthening of economic relations and business ties between Portugal and India.

It is also an opportunity to congratulate the representatives of the Indian business community for its contribution to the impressive performance of the country’s economy which, over the past three years, achieved an average growth rate of more than eight per cent, one of the highest in the world.

As a result of more than a decade of strong growth, driven by the services sector and largely associated with an increasing economic openness and a wide program of structural reforms, India’s real per capita income has increased by over fifty per cent over the past ten years.

Technological and scientific development, dynamic exports and growing integration into the international financial systems clearly show the increasing important role that India is playing, as it deserves, in the global economy.

In a globalised world, interdependence and complementarity links among economies and enterprises tend to co-exist with an intensified competition across progressively wider markets.

Global competition itself is changing. An increasing knowledge-based economy is emerging, and the knowledge required for a company to build up its competitive advantage and to compete globally is not to be found in just one place or country. The key challenge, today, is to be able to identify the knowledge that is dispersed around the world, to integrate it and to leverage it at global scale.

Against this background, I cannot but underscore the excellent opportunity provided by this Forum to enhance better mutual understanding and closer contacts between the Indian and the Portuguese business communities.

The business delegation that accompanies me in this visit represent several of the most dynamic sectors of the Portuguese economy – from information technologies, robotics and communication to biotechnology, tourism and banking services, not forgetting engineering, moulds and construction. They are all top managers of companies, many of which having an international presence and a global vocation, who were selected for their interest in India or in setting up partnerships with Indian enterprises in the future. They certainly share with their counterparts present here today a strategic vision and a business mindset turned towards the future.

Building a relationship with a future between Portugal and India is, I might say, the main purpose of my State visit at the invitation of the President of the Republic of India.

The warm welcome extended to us bears witness not only to the best of Indian tradition of courtesy but also to the excellent political relations between both our countries and to our undeniable historic and cultural ties. We also enjoy a good contractual base that rests on a network of agreements and protocols in several areas.

However, the fact is that, apart from a few cases of success that deserve being duly praised, relations between Portugal and India in the economic field and in bilateral co-operation have remained far below their full potential. We must therefore mobilise the will of our political, economic, cultural and scientific communities to a greater extent, for otherwise we shall find it hard to build up this relationship with a future, one that I certainly consider wanted and mutually beneficial.

Business leaders must get to know each other better. Flows of information and communication between our countries must be strengthened. And politicians must contribute by creating suitable conditions for business to materialize.

Portugal has a great deal to offer India and India surely has much to offer Portugal. And I believe there is much more they can do together.

Portugal is a modern, safe, welcoming country, an open economy with excellent infrastructures, a solid, sophisticated financial system and a business community increasingly geared towards innovation and internationalisation.

As a result of Portugal’s fine relations with Africa and Latin America, Portuguese companies have channelled very considerable investments to these economies, especially to the Portuguese-speaking countries (a language, it should be pointed out, that is spoken by over 200 million people across the five continents).

As a member of the European Union – India’s main trading partner – Portugal is also a platform providing access to a consolidated market of 500 million people. A founder member of the euro area, Portugal benefits from strong financial discipline and stability standards and from a macroeconomic and regulatory framework favourable to foreign investments.

Twenty-first century Portugal is an enterprising country, self-confident, able to multiply centres of scientific and corporate creativity. It is a country that knows that the future will largely depend on the capacity to create wealth based on innovation and knowledge.

Portugal sees India’s economic and political emergence as a natural process in view of the country’s enormous resources and potential. The remarkable progress made by India is worthy of admiration and respect, and it warrants the best co-operation at bilateral and multilateral level.

We are experiencing transition to a networked world and society. More than an economic feature, globalisation is also a cultural, social and political phenomenon that turns us into active citizens of an increasingly large community, in which geographic borders no longer provide protection or represent an obstacle. For countries such as Portugal, and also for countries of the size of India, globalisation creates a new framework of requirements, along with an array of unprecedented opportunities.

A few months ago about two dozen leaders of some of the world’s biggest companies met in Portugal. They came from twelve countries of the various continents to discuss the challenges of globalisation with an equal number of Portuguese companies that have global ambitions. To put it more precisely, this Council, created under my sponsorship, looked into ways of promoting globalisation of a kind that would make room for all countries, that is, of pluralistic globalisation.

The discussion made clear that, in a knowledge based economy, there are no peripheral countries. A company does not necessarily have to belong to a rich country in order to being able to compete in the global market.

Globalisation should indeed be pluralistic, making working together easier, in a reasoning of interdependence and in a play of complementarity and fair competition, so that the winner of the process is Mankind as a whole.

I am certain that Portugal and India share this vision and will be able to become effective, constructive partners in this endeavour. The companies that are gathered here today will, I am sure, be the best example of this relationship with a future that we wish to forge.