The relationship between Portugal and Canada will change in a closer approach
“The Portuguese people around the world are an asset that are not always used in the best way. Public policy in Portugal has changed a few years ago in the sense of using the diaspora”, underlined Paulo Dinis.
The executive director of the Associação Empresarial de Portugal Foundation was speaking this Friday night, at the Consulate General of Portugal in Toronto, with the presence of the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities Berta Nunes.
The AEP Foundation was in Canada from November 1st to 5th, where it promoted in Montreal, Toronto and Mississauga, international business meetings and launched the Global Diaspora Network platform in the North American country, in partnership with the Federation of Entrepreneurs and Professionals Luso-Canadians.
“There are more than five million Portuguese in 178 countries, who can be used to promote Portugal, the export of Portuguese products, but also to take advantage of the income that our compatriots bring to their countries and summon them to invest in Portugal, a country which is different from the one that was added, “he added.
The visit brought together more than one hundred and a half Portuguese-Canadian businessmen with the aim of making known the potential of the Global Diaspora Network and leveraging business between both countries.
Given the importance of digital tools these days, whether for communication, but also for the presentation of business solutions, the AEP Foundation will launch in December a portal aimed at businesses in the Portuguese diaspora.
“Consider that with this tool, with the National Program to Support Diaspora Investment, conditions are met for there to be business also with the Portuguese throughout the world,” he pointed out.
The Global Diaspora Network, promoted by the AEP Foundation, is a collaborative network that aims to bring the Portuguese spread across the diaspora together and promotes the internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s).
At the end of the business mission in Canada, the AEP Foundation “needs the need to improve information”, with regard to the reality of Portuguese industry, a reality that is unknown in Canada.
To improve communication and commercial collaboration between the countries, the visit of Portuguese-Canadian businessmen to Portugal is planned for 2022.
Data from the Canadian census of 2016 reveal that there were 483,610 Portuguese and Portuguese descendants in Canada, that is, 1.4% of the population in the country.
The majority were in Ontario (69%), Quebec (14%) and British Columbia (8%).
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