Portugal’s deputy Prime Minister was doing today what he is best at, applauding a major new investment and promoting Portugal as a safe haven for overseas businesses despite the country’s recent and ongoing financial problems.
Portas said today that Portugal is a reliable, trusted and attractive country for investors and did refer to past difficulties when outlining a promising future.
"These problems have been painful to overcome, but we are just at that time when companies are considering investing in Portugal and are planning to create jobs in our country," said Portas at the Finsa wood products factory near Viseu during a ceremony to mark the completion of an investment of €37 million.
According to Portas, this investment will mean another 50 jobs added to 500 in the area in the past few months, all due to "hard work in promoting investment" which means to Portas that the country has become attractive and also reliable to businesses looking to set up in southern Europe.
"Right now, in a world so complex, Portugal is a safe country in which to invest and an interesting country in which to place trust. We want your investment because we know that it’s only investment that creates jobs," added the minister.
The head of the Finsa group, José Carballo Garcia, said that this is "the first significant post-crisis investment by Finsa and it’s in Portugal."
It would be easy to criticise Portas but his speech was right for the audience and by being present at these sorts of launches, he at least is not meddling in party politics in Lisbon.
