AICEP opens office in Chicago, US
After New York and San Francisco, the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP) opens an office in a new region in the USA.
The Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP) has a new delegation in the United States, the fourth largest customer for national exports and the eighth largest issuer of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country. With this opening in Chicago, the public agency led by Luís Castro Henriques now has three locations in the world’s largest economy – the other structures are in New York and San Francisco.
To improve bilateral economic relations, establish new partnerships and boost investment projects for Portugal, given Chicago’s strategic and geographical importance. These are the objectives outlined by the agency for this new structure, which will be inaugurated this Tuesday in the presence of the Secretary of State for Internationalisation, Bernardo Ivo Cruz, or the Portuguese ambassador in the US, Francisco Duarte Lopes, in addition to local authorities.
The US is one of Portugal’s main economic partners, and in 2021 was the 4th largest client of Portuguese exports and the 8th largest country issuing FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) to Portugal. As for Illinois, which has the city of Chicago as its capital, Portugal’s exports increased from US$63 million in 2014 to US$184 million in 2021.
“The US is a good market for diversification for Portuguese companies and, despite its complexity and size, we are confident in the Portuguese offer and believe there are good opportunities in the US market. In addition, in recent years, Portugal has seen unprecedented growth in foreign investment in the technology sector, particularly from the US. With the opening of a new AICEP office, strategically located in Chicago, we want to boost the business of Portuguese companies in the US and attract more investment to Portugal,” said the President of AICEP, Luís Castro Henriques.
