Portugal ″ is the place to live and invest ″
The minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition defended this Monday that Portugal “is the place to live and invest” and to do business, in a speech that emphasizes that the country has not stopped in the climate and digital transition.
Pedro Siza Vieira was speaking at the opening of the Web Summit, which arrived this Monday in Lisbon.
In his final message, the minister stated: “I hope you enjoy the Web Summit, I hope you enjoy these precious days in Lisbon”.
But, “I hope you come back, I hope you talk to your friends and partners and they say that Lisbon and Portugal is the place to live and invest, to do business” in a way that is “open, tolerant and multicultural”, he stressed.
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Once again, the government official defended that “Portugal is a country where people come to invest” and live, noting that it is one of the safest countries in the world, not only in terms of safety, but also in terms of health, for having the highest percentage of the population with complete vaccination against covid-19.
During the intervention, the Minister of Economy stressed that Portugal was not stuck in the climate transition or in the digital transition.
“From January to September two thirds of our electricity comes from renewable sources” and in that way “we are also ensuring that electricity costs for” large consumers, “for industries and businesses is lower than it was before, this is the the right path to progress, we are not standing still, we are going to accelerate in the climate transition”, he continued.
“We’ve also made progress in the digital transition and this has been a great year for startups,” he said, making an annual growth rate of 160% in the ability to capture investment.
He stressed that technological startups exist to be “the only thing that kept” the economy “alive”, which demonstrates “a promise for the future”.
The Web Summit takes place between November 1st and 4th in Lisbon, in person, after the last edition was ‘online’ and the organization expects around 40 thousand participants, as revealed in Paddy Cosgrave, executive president of the summit.
Comedian Amy Poehler, Microsoft President Brad Smith, European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and footballer Gerard Pique will join more than 1,000 speakers, around 1,250 startups, 1,500 journalists and more than 700 investors, at a summit where topics such as technology and society, among others, will be discussed, according to the organization.
Despite the expected number of visitors this year to be around 30,000 less than in the last in-person edition, in 2019, the authorities consider that this is the “largest event of 2021” to take place in Lisbon.