THERE ARE 1,509 COMPANIES THAT HAVE STOPPED TO EXPORT "FOR A SINGLE COUNTRY"

The number of Portuguese companies that added more than one country to the destinations of their exports increased in 1.509 in the present legislature, said the Secretary of State of Internationalization.

"In this legislature the number of companies that export has increased and the number of companies that have exported to a single country has decreased”, noted Eurico Brilhante Dias, pointing out that the universe fell down from 12.306 to 10.797.

These figures were announced during a hearing by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, on the parliamentary committee on Economy Innovation and Public Works, and are one of the priorities determined by the Government to increase the base and diversify the export markets.

Previously, Augusto Santos Silva had presented the "six priorities list” for 2019 in terms of investment captation and exports, in which he included the coordination of the actions to promote the country's international image, the continuation of the support policy of investment promotion and the bet on markets that give scale to exports, namely China and India.

The adoption of measures which mitigate the impact of 'Brexit' on citizens and enterprises, and the preparation of the Expo Dubai are other priorities, as well as the intention to be "in the frontline” in the process of economic diversification that is being promoted by the Angolan authorities.

On Angola, in response to questions posed by deputies, Eurico Brilhante Dias said that about two-thirds of the debt to Portuguese companies is already certified, and for the majority of the companies the amounts are already totally certified.

At issue are about 470 million euros claimed by about 25 companies, and "of the certified value, about 80% already have the payment model agreed with the Angolan State."

The Secretary of State also referred that there are still some differences between the value claimed and the certificate, which involve between four to five companies, but he estimates that the resolution will be soon.

"We are going to continue working. This is a continuous process and we hope it will be satisfactory completed very soon," said the Minister to Lusa, at the end of the hearing.

During this hearing, the Left Block Member of Parliament Heitor de Sousa referred to the incident in the Jamaican Quarter and to the Augusto Santos Silva's phone call to his Angolan counterpart, and the minister stated that this contact was "to thank" Angola's reaction to the incident (which was expressed in a statement from the Angolan Embassy in Lisbon and in a statement from the Angolan Interior Minister) and not to apologize.

"These two gestures from Angola are very important gestures which have touched the Government very deeply and so I took the initiative to do a phone call to my colleague to thank him. It was not to apologize, it was to thank him, to say thank you for the way the Angolan authorities reacted to this incident which we all regret", he clarified.