Mexico economic deal to come this year; focus on ports, energy
"We're working towards having something important to do together by the end of the year," said António Costa, the Portuguese PM.
Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, has said that by the end of this year the Socialist government will finalise an economic cooperation plan with Mexico, and that the ports sector and the energy sector are already priorities for this.
Costa was speaking to journalists after meeting in Santiago de Chile with Mexican President López Obrador, to whom he presented José Saramago’s book “Viagem a Portugal” (English title ‘Journey to Portugal’).
“I took advantage of my presence in Chile to meet with Portuguese companies present in this market and for bilateral meetings, particularly with the president of Mexico – a country with which we want to increase co-operation and economic relations,” Costa said. “Mexico is a major economy [that] faces both the Atlantic and the Pacific.”
According to the prime minister, Mexico has “some common interests with Portugal, particularly in the areas of ports and energy.
“At the meeting, we identified several areas in which we can work together to the advantage of both countries,” he said, noting out that his minister of foreign affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, is to travel to Mexico later this month.
“We’re working towards having something important to do together by the end of the year,” he went on. “It’s a country where many Portuguese companies are working, particularly in the construction sector.”
Costa recalled that Mota-Engil, Portugal’s largest construction company, recently completed a section of a railway project in Mexico that is considered to be one of the largest in the world.
“Mexico is a country with which we want to strengthen relations,” he reiterated, before going on to highlight the meeting that he would later have with Portuguese companies present in Chile.
With regard to the latter country, Costa said that Portuguese investment has grown and economic relations are intensifying.
“From the various meetings I’ve had with President Gabriel Boric, I’ve sensed in him a great desire to strengthen his ties with Portugal,” he said. “He has a great appreciation for the Portuguese companies operating in Chile – and I hope this develops. Chile has the largest reserves of lithium, a fundamental resource for the energy transition.”
This evening, the prime minister is one of the guests at a dinner organised by President Gabriel Boric that is to be attended by all the heads of state and government who on Monday are to take part in ceremonies to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup d’état in Chile that brought down the then president, Salvador Allende, ushering in decades of military rule.
Also on Monday, but in the afternoon, after the commemorations and before returning to Lisbon, Costa is to have a one-to-one meeting with Boric.
