Portugal secured 14 new foreign investments in industrial projects financed, planning to create 3555 jobs in the country, the largest of all being the China´s CALB battery factory for automobiles.
CALB is undergoing environmental licensing for its factory in Sines, a project worth EUR 2060 million that is expected to create around 1800 jobs. It is classified as aproject of national interest and candidate for state aid.
Speaking to Portuguese newspaper Publico, the head of Portugal´s investment and trade agency (AICEP), Filipe Santos Costa, said CALB´s investment is an example of the “big investments” chased by the country, which “can have more impact and a greater multiplier effect” in the economy.
China´s CALB EUR 2 billion Investment in Portugal Moving Ahead
The unit also serves AICEP´s purpose of attracting domestic and foreign investment in the sectors “enabling the transformation of Portuguese economy”, he added.
Accordint to the agency´s data, of the EUR 6.800 million investment intentions, US and United Kingdom companies have the most projects, followed by France, Germany, Belgium and China. But China leads in terms of ammounts, with CALB´s project tottalling 75% of new investment intentions.
Of the 34 projects entered through the AICEP, 22 are shared competence or service centres in the engineering fields,
software, offering 3255 new jobs.
China´s CALB Sees ‘Opportunity’ for Battery Factory in Portugal With Xpeng-Volkswagen Deal
Filipe Santos Costa told Publico that Portugal is betting on the development of three sectors: first the automobile “with emphasis on electric mobility (and extendable to the naval, aeronautical and railway)”; secondly, life sciences, “with emphasis on pharmaceutical”; and thirdly in the agro-industry “with an emphasis on food”.
Paving the way for State support, in February a new government resolution enabled support of around EUR 1 billion in investments in strategic sectors.
This appropriation “was estimated taking into account almost EUR 7 billion investment (mostly foreign) in five projects, three in electric mobility, one in green steel and another in aeronautics”, underlined the president of AICEP.
