The prime minister announced today that in the coming weeks, the government aims to introduce incentives for investments in the defense sector, asserting that opportunities are abundant for Portugal, provided there is swift action.
Speaking at the conclusion of the ‘Economia Sem Fronteiras’ conference hosted by channel Now at a Lisbon hotel, Luís Montenegro emphasized that the international commitment made by the country to increase defense spending should not merely translate to spending more money.
“In fact, it should not equate to that. It should result in increased investment that can be regenerative from the perspective of business opportunities, industrial dynamism, human capital retention, scientific and technological development, and leveraging opportunities for industries beyond the defense sector,” he stated.
The prime minister noted that in this area, numerous opportunities exist for a country like Portugal.
“If we act swiftly, the government will make this clear in the coming weeks: we must quickly encourage our entrepreneurs to focus on this area, realizing that we are discussing not only the current circumstances of ongoing conflicts but a deterrence policy that will persist, a security and defense policy that implies establishing inter-state relations for mutual procurement of materials,” he said.
Montenegro argued that Europe must “establish commercial relations in this field that benefit its own industries” and, in this sector, must also simplify regulations.
“We must also understand that procurement regulations and procedures are important. We cannot stimulate our industries and then fail to purchase their products,” he asserted.
For instance, he pointed out, the government cannot “request the temporary conversion of a textile industry to produce military equipment,” only to then purchase that equipment from China.
“With all due respect for competition rules, the customers for military equipment are states. And as states, they have not only purely commercial interests, which are relevant, but other interests as well,” he said.
The prime minister highlighted that Portugal already manufactures various components for both civilian and military materials, particularly in the aeronautics sector.
“For example, I refer to Embraer, Airbus, and Lufthansa Technik, which recently established an investment of about 700 million euros in Santa Maria da Feira. We have other requests under review, but we could also be discussing our textile industry or mold industry within this domain,” he mentioned.
