Portugal seeks labor mobility with Vietnam and investment from Thailand
A labor mobility agreement with Vietnam and the expansion of Thai investment sectors in Portugal are some of the possibilities opened up by the ongoing visit of the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs to three countries in Southeast Asia.
After the meetings in Bangkok and Hanoi, João Gomes Cravinho highlighted today, in statements to Lusa, that the historical and conflict-free relationship with Thailand and Vietnam is “an asset” that gives “advantage” to Portugal to strengthen political, economic and cultural relations with a region of great economic dynamism.
These two countries “look at Portugal as an old partner with whom they have never had conflicts and who they can trust”, underlined the head of Portuguese diplomacy.
The Portuguese minister had meetings with his counterpart and also Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, Don Pramudwinai, and with a group of businessmen who have investments in Portugal, all meetings “very positive”, he said.
The minister added that the Thai group Minor, owner of the Tivoli hotels, intends to internationalize the brand, and that he heard “widespread satisfaction” from Thai investors already present in Portugal – in the areas of fishing, automobiles and others – and that they want to strengthen this presence, also in areas such as renewable energies.
“We mapped out the future”, said Gomes Cravinho to Lusa, referring to the interest shown in the areas of flap, shopping centres, and tourism, where “the offer that Portugal and Thailand have is not competitive and therefore allows for cooperation”, namely through tourism and gastronomy schools.
If Thai investments in Portugal are significant, the Portuguese presence in Thailand “is extremely small” and the government wants to promote it by taking advantage of the historical relationship, “a work base that gives an advantage”, highlighted.
Symbol of the historical relationship – the Portuguese were the first Western people to communicate with the Egyptians from the Thais in 1511 and the Portuguese embassy is the oldest in Thailand – there is a neighborhood in central Bangkok with a population that identifies with descendants of Portuguese from 16th century, which João Cravinho visited before heading to Vietnam.
The idea of a “labor mobility agreement with Vietnam” emerged in the meeting with his counterpart, Bui Thanh Son, the head of Portuguese diplomacy, who also had a separate meeting with the prime minister, Phạm Minh Chính.
“We agreed that the respective ministries, on our part the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, will analyze this possibility”, revealed the minister, considering that Portugal “could benefit from this availability of Vietnamese labor”.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed that he saw “a strong interest in safeguarding relations” in various areas and, at an economic level, in safeguarding relations in the maritime, port, renewable energy and tourism sectors.
In addition to the bilateral issues, the theme of the war in Ukraine was understood, as well as the tension in the Southeast Asian region related to the China Sea, and the territorial claims by Beijing that affected Vietnam and other countries in the region.
The Vietnamese interlocutors are interested in getting to know Portuguese historical archives better, due to the importance they may have, namely maps, in these legal disputes, with João Cravinho expressing the Portuguese willingness to receive the specialists that Hanoi wants to send.
In Vietnam there is also an attachment to the historical relationship, “which was transmitted to me by several interlocutors”, said the minister in his statements to Lusa.
João Gomes Cravinho recalled, in this context, the unique situation in Vietnam of having the translation, in a romanized register, of the written language of Vietnam, different from Chinese, which is due to the Jesuit Father Francisco de Pina, a Portuguese, born in the city of Guard.
The Portuguese minister’s visit to the region ends this Friday in Singapore, where an EDP group company’s investment in renewable energy sources stands out, also with the aim of strengthening bilateral political, economic and cultural relations.