Vice President of Brazil visits Portugal from Monday
The vice-president of Brazil starts on Monday an official three-day visit to Portugal, with a very busy schedule of meetings with the President of the Republic, Prime Minister, President of Parliament and Executive Secretary of the CPLP, as well as businessmen.
This is the first official visit of the Brazilian vice president to Portugal, who will end his term in January, when the new government, inspired by Lula da Silva, the president-elect, will take office.
This visit begins two days after Lula da Silva ended his trip to Portugal as president-elect of Brazil.
According to a communiqué from Hamilton Mourão’s office, in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) the vice-president will participate in a meeting with the organization’s executive secretary, Zacarias da Costa, and in a formal session with permanent representatives of the nine Member States of the organization, among which is Brazil.
On the first day of the official visit to Portugal, which takes place between November 21 and 24, Hamilton Mourão will have an audience with the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in the afternoon at the Belém Palace.
On the second day Hamilton Mourão will meet with the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, in the morning, in the early afternoon he will visit the Consulate General of Brazil in Lisbon and then he will meet with the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva .
On Wednesday morning, there will be a meeting with Brazilian and Portuguese businessmen and the afternoon is dedicated to meetings at the CPLP.
According to the note, the bilateral relationship between the two countries, based on historical and affective ties, is based on a “solid political, economic and cultural partnership, in addition to coordination in international forums”.
On Thursday, the Brazilian vice president no longer has a schedule, returning to his country early in the morning, on a flight that will depart from the military airport of Figo Maduro.
Brazil is now one of the main providers of raw materials and intermediate goods for Portuguese industry, the note also mentions. And “with that, the profile of Brazilian exports changes: products such as coffee, wood, sugar, leather and cocoa, which were dominant in the past, have been giving way to other ‘commodities'”, he highlights.
According to the statement, in 2021, the Brazilian export list is mainly composed of crude oil (62% of the total), soy (9%), corn (4.4%) and rolled iron or steel products (3 .8%).
On the side of Brazilian vegetarians, in 2021, side dishes and vegetable oils (37%), alcoholic beverages (9.6%), fillets and other fish meats (5.6%), aircraft and their components (5. 2%), and other manufacturing industry products (4.7%).
“The Brazil-Portugal commercial exchange reached 3.5 billion dollars (about 4.8 billion euros) from January to October 2022, representing a growth of 56% compared to the same period last year”, being the Portuguese market the 18th destination for Brazilian exports.
In addition, the note advances, it is estimated that there are around 600 companies with Portuguese capital present in Brazil, and Portugal ranks 14th among the countries of origin of foreign investment in that country.