Economic Diplomacy

The external economic action of the Portuguese State has as its main goal to accelerate the economic development, which generates employment, namely in what regards exportation, tourism attractiveness, attraction of foreign direct investment and support to the internationalization of the Portuguese enterprises. Thus, with a coordinated effort between the external services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, economic diplomacy has been set forward and has been defined, according to its principles and objectives, by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers number 152/2006, under the following terms:

Economic diplomacy is “understood as an activity developed by the State and its public institutes outside national territory in order to obtain the indispensable contributions to the acceleration of economic development, creation of a favourable climate for innovation and technology, as well as the creation of new markets and the creation of employment with quality in Portugal.”

The following objectives are pointed out:

• To promote the image of Portugal as a country which produces goods and services with quality for exportation, as a tourist destiny of excellence and as a preferential territory for investment intentions, in the framework of a globalized international economy;
• To cultivate and deepen the relations with the main foreign economic agents that have or might have relationships with Portugal, with decision-makers of significant economic investments and with providers of important fluxes and routes within the tourist context;
• To support the internationalization of the Portuguese enterprises, in what concerns commercialization strategies, and the fixation of productive units abroad, as well as through the perception of opportunities which will provide potential added-value to the country and its enterprises.

The Embassy of Portugal in Tokyo, in close coordination with the AICEP Delegation, looks forward to following these principles and goals, trying to promote the most relevant aspects of our country in an economy which is the second biggest of the world. Presently, although our bilateral economic relationship is still not significant in terms of figures, it has a large margin for development.

AICEP PORTUGAL GLOBAL
(Business Development Agency)