Government of Portugal challenges companies to privatization in Cape Verde – Economy
“I think that in the coming years we are going to have in Portugal a great movement towards the internationalization of our companies and, therefore, if the opportunities make sense, I am convinced that Portuguese companies will also pay attention to the opportunities that arise there”, he said. the minister.
The Minister of State and Digital Transition was also speaking to journalists, in the city of Praia, after a meeting with the deputy prime minister, Minister of Finance and Business Development and Digital Economy of Cape Verde, Olavo Correia, in the context of a visit he makes to the archipelago.
The Portuguese official said that the focus was not so much on Cape Verde’s privatization program, but on creating conditions for more productive investment in the area of goods and services in the African country.
“It’s not just the acquisition of activities that already exist, but above all how to facilitate investment in Cape Verde to serve other markets,” he projected, understanding that this will allow the two countries to further deepen economic and investment relations.
For Pedro Siza Vieira, economic relations between Portugal and Cape Verde are “very intense”, but he is of the opinion that there is capacity for the two countries to do “even more and better”.
“This could involve strengthening the internationalization of Cape Verde’s economy, namely through the attraction of Portuguese companies that can be made from here to serve global markets,” he pointed out.
And an advantage at the moment, he said, is the fact that the two countries are connected by a submarine fiber optic cable that will allow technology service companies and service centers in this area to install themselves in Cape Verde or Portugal. .
“On the Portuguese side, the interest is very evident, Portuguese companies need to find new bases from which they can reach the international clients they increasingly have. Cape Verde also expressed the idea of capturing More qualified activities also help to create better jobs here, also taking advantage of the excellent qualities of Cape Verde’s human resources,” he stressed.
The reform program for the Business Sector of the State of Cape Verde, initiated in the previous legislature (2016/2021) by the current Government, involved 23 companies, with privatizations and sub-concessions in the areas of transport, electricity, maritime economy, health, among others.
According to a previous IMF report, 10 of these public companies lost in 2018.
The privatization program of state-owned or state-owned companies was suspended in 2020 because of the covid-19 pandemic.
Cape Verde’s deputy prime minister, Olavo Correia, expressed the Government’s willingness to make Cape Verde a “domiciliation center for Portuguese companies” with an interest in settling in the archipelago in the areas of technology, light industry, maritime economy or tourism.
“Not only to provide a service to the Cape Verdean market, but above all to also export to the world and to the ECOWAS market [Comunidade Económica dos Estados da África Ocidental]”, pointed out.
Before that, continued the Cape Verdean minister, there are a set of issues that the two countries will work together to attract Portuguese companies to Cape Verde, such as connectivity, mobility, transport, fiscal framework and the framework of incentives.
“We hope that the Portuguese part can make an even greater contribution in relation to the creation of these job opportunities for Cape Verdean youth who are qualifying, legitimately, aspire to have a more qualified and better paid job”, requested Olavo Correia .
RIPE // JH
Portuguese / End