Portugal to show ‘it makes sense’ as partner country at Hannover Messe 2022

Portugal’s Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP) wants to take over 100 companies to participate in Germany’s Hannover Messe 2022, one of the world’s largest industrial fairs, the agency’s president, Luís Castro Henriques, has said.

The first edition after the pandemic of the fair in Hannover, the capital and largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, is scheduled for April 25-29 next year and will feature Portugal as a partner country, with the ‘slogan’ “Portugal makes sense”.

“We have a goal. We believe it is fair for which you have to be very well prepared, with investment not only from the Portuguese state but also from the companies themselves, and we hope to have at least 100 companies with us,” Castro Henriques said at a press conference.

He explained that state investment in the event will amount to four million euros, including the construction of a pavilion and support for small and medium-sized companies totalling 1.2 million euros. Each company will receive 45% of the overall cost of participation.

The economy minister, Pedro Siza Vieira, emphasised that Hannover Messe is one of the most important industrial fairs in the world and that the invitation to Portugal to be a partner country is not only proof of the confidence that the German authorities have in the country, but also “recognition of the path that our industry, with our companies and also with the support of international investors, has taken in recent years.

Siza Vieira said that the event will improve “the already excellent” relations between the two countries.

The minister stressed that the country “makes sense for investors, for companies and for the development of industrial presence”.

Germany’s ambassador in Portugal, Martin Ney, pointed out that being the partner country of Hannover Messe means “giving visitors a magnifying glass and asking them to take a closer look at Portugal, which is why the partner has a large, premium space.