PM also “offers access to European and Portuguese-speaking markets with 500 million people”
Prime minister António Costa has been promoting what he describes as “the largest lithium deposits in Europe” (to be found in Portugal) during his official visit to South Korea, which ends today.
Lusa explains the PM extolled the country’s ‘wealth in lithium’ (even before it is being mined) as well as offering access to European and Portuguese-speaking markets with 500 million people.
“We are the world’s seventh-largest producer of lithium and the first in Europe”, he said. “In 2023, we will launch six public tenures for lithium prospecting and exploration and we want to foster the development of integrated value chains for critical raw materials.”
As Portugal’s State news agency reiterates, the prime minister’s main aim “has been to attract new investment from South Korean multinationals in sectors such as renewable energy, semiconductors and the automotive industry”.
In his interview with “The Korea Times“, the leader of the executive said that Portugal “has more to offer than just access to the European market of 500 million people, as the country also has a strong relationship with the Portuguese-speaking global community”.
He then highlighted Portugal’s strategic geographical position, saying it is the closest European country to North and South America and most of Africa, with the advantage of having direct submarine cable connections to all continents.
“Portugal has the largest lithium reserve in Europe and the eighth largest in the world with over 60,000 tonnes of reserves. It represents a great potential to collaborate with South Korea. This mineral is a key component for electric vehicle batteries,” he said.
In an interview with another South Korean newspaper, the “Financial News“, the prime minister said he was attentive to “the innovation and quality management of South Korean multinational companies such as Hyundai Motors, Kia Motors, Samsung and LG.
“Korean products are much appreciated around the world, and Portugal is no exception,” he said, then revealed that he had a Kia Sorento car for “many years” and that it turned out to be “excellent vehicle.”
The PM added that Portugal “has a series of incentives for foreign investment and that it is applying a Recovery and Resilience Plan with around €11 billion. “I will give an example, a foreign company that comes to Portugal and creates a significant number of jobs for young people has benefits of a reduction of social security payments”.
Regarding the semiconductor industry, António Costa highlighted “the competitiveness of the production infrastructure, the excellent manpower at the engineering level, the existence of abundant water and energy, as well as large-scale semiconductor packaging and test production plants by Amkor Technology”.
The newspaper described Mr Costa as “the prime minister of Portugal since November 2015 “ leading the PS, “a centre-left political party that rejects populist policies and follows pro-business policies”.
Source: Portugal resident
