Aicep’s main focus for external promotion this year is the United States

Portugal will concentrate most of its external promotion activities in the United States this year. According to AICEP – the portuguese trade & investment Agency – 15 actions are planned in the U.S.A., which compares with the 12 planned in France and ten in Germany.

Aicep’s plan includes 15 roadshows, seven business missions, seven promotional campaigns, including participation in fairs and forums and organising other events.

The big focus is the United States. With exports totalling 8.9 billion euros by 2023, this year’s missions will focus on sectors such as health and life sciences, automobiles, engineering and construction, information technology and agri-food.

Portuguese exports to the United States have been on the rise and the country is already the fourth largest client, but with the threat of tariffs reiterated by President Donald Trump, these promotional actions could take on particular relevance. If they materialise, market diversification could be the solution to avoid reducing exports’ contribution to GDP.

Exports reached 47.4% of GDP in 2023 and the goal is to reach 50%. But with the uncertainty in the world economy, the State Budget for 2025 predicts that exports will make a zero contribution to economic growth.

The economy grew by 2.7% year-on-year in the last three months of 2024, above forecasts, but thanks to the acceleration of private consumption, because the “contribution of net external demand to the year-on-year change in GDP remained negative, reflecting the more intense growth of imports of goods and services compared to exports”.

The second market with the highest number of planned actions is France (12), followed by Germany (10) and China (7). These markets also include aeronautics, electric mobility, batteries, energy and semiconductors.

But the highlight of the calendar is the Prime Minister’s visit to Osaka, Japan, where Expo2025 will be held from 13 April to 13 October. The official visit has not yet been scheduled, but is expected to take place in the first half of the year, to coincide with the Economic Forum. The Portuguese pavilion, designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, is made from several thousand recycled maritime cables and fishing nets. The overall investment in Portugal’s participation is 21 million euros.

The national plan of external promotion actions for this year has not yet been released — “it will be made available soon”, according to the Aicep website. It is in this document that the funds allocated to these 151 actions to support the internationalisation of Portuguese companies in 41 countries are known.

It should be remembered that last year, under the leadership of Filipe Santos Costa, there were four million euros for Aicep’s own actions, without counting with business, regional and sectoral associations, chambers of commerce and other organisations. The plan included the same number of actions and countries.

Aicep plans to open two new offices in two countries that “have growth potential and already robust growth rates and in which we are not already present”, revealed the president of Aicep in an interview with ECO in november last year. “There’s a prospect of strengthening our presence in Asia and probably also at the confluence of Asia and Africa, but I wouldn’t want to give away any particular destination”, said Ricardo Arroja.