Chairman & CEO Miguel Frasquilho of AICEP, a Portuguese Trade & Investment Agency, said his country wants to strengthen economic bilateral relations with Korea.
While delivering a speech at a ceremony to open Aicep’s office in Seoul at the EU Delegation headquarters in Seoul on Oct. 26, AICEP Chairman Frasquilho said, “AICEP’s office in Seoul represents our strong commitment toward the promotion of economic bilateral relations with Korea. From our point of view, these relations can be brought to a new level.”
“As a result of AICEP’s announced Strategic Plan for 2015 and 2016, establishing a presence in Seoul was a natural decision and reflection the political will to reinforce our economic relations,“ he said.
Frasquilho proposed that Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) reciprocate by opening a delegation in Lisbon in the near future.
In an earlier meeting with the press at the Hyatt, he recalled that Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva visited Korea and held talks with President Park Geun-hye last year. President Silva invited President Park to come to Portugal to strengthen bilateral ties.
“Our economic relations are still modest, Korea was only Portugal’s 49th client and 26th supplier in 2014, but there is still a large, unexplored potential for substantial improvement as our economics are, to some degree, complementary,” Chairman Frasquilho said. He added that trade of goods and services between the two countries reached almost 350 million euros in 2014, which represents a 2.6 percent average annual growth rate since 2010, and the number of Portuguese companies selling their products and services in Korea increased from 324 in 2010 to more than 500 last year. This is a sign that Portuguese businessmen have a clear and growing interest in the Korean market.
The chairman said, “The role of trade and investment agencies is fundamental. We need to work hard in bringing our business people together and encourage them to explore new business and partnership opportunities, namely by taking advantage of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement,” he said. “In an ever more globalized economy, we should also consider in a near future the prospects of the establishment of partnerships in third countries, fully exploring the added values resulting the experiences and knowledge acquired in other regions where both our countries are present.”
Frasquilho said Portugal and Korea can collaborate in entering such Portuguese-speaking third countries, including Angola, Portugal’s sixth largest trade partner, Mozambique and Brazil. In the same way, Korea can be a strategic platform in Asia, he added.
Regarding investment, he said that Portugal is an attractive designation for Korean investors, offering unique competitive advantages. Portugal implemented around 500 measures and structural reforms, and offers financial support, grants, and such incentives as tax, innovation job creation and research development.
He noted that Portuguese companies have already acquired important international experience and value in strategic areas such as agro food (namely wine and olive oil), new communications technologies, the automotive industry, the wood & cork industries, tourism, renewable energy, biotechnology, nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals, shoes, clothing and fashion. In the ICT area, he said that Portugal has a strong point in software, a sector Korea wants to nurture, and in the energy sector, Portugal now depends on wind power, accounting half of its energy mix.
Among some 30 people on hand at the opening ceremony were Gerhard Sabathil, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the EU Delegation to Korea; Amb. Antonio Quinteiro Nobre of Portugal to Korea; Deputy General Director Hong Young-Ki of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Director Kim Jung Soo of the Eurasia at KITA; Chairman Shinn Tae-Young of Korea Importers Association (KOIMA); Executive Vice-President for Business Information and Trade Yun Won-sok of KOTRA, Aicep Chairman Frasquilho, Aicep Executive Director Luis Castro Henriques, and Aciep Directro Joana Neves, also economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of Portugal in Korea, and WeDo Technologies, vice president for Asia and Pacific.
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