By Enrique Santos President of the Spanish Luso Chamber of Commerce and Industry
I would like to start this short opinion article by thanking the Andalusian Economist for the opportunity that he gives me to address Andalusian businessmen and companies that I consider the true engines of commercial activity. His dedicated effort and good work have been the factors that have allowed us to reach the levels of dynamism that the commercial relations between Andalusia and Portugal live through and that throughout their history and their deeds have left a strong mark linked to the activity commercial and that persists in this beginning of the century.
This is reflected in the latest official data on trade in goods and services that show that in the whole of 2018 the trade stood at 3,339 million euros, of which 1,260 correspond to Andalusian demand and 2,079.3 to supply to his neighbor Portugal. In the last two decades this growth has been constant and judging by the latest data regarding the first ten months of 2019 bilateral trade exceeds 2,589.4 million euros (1,674.4 correspond to Andalusian sales and 915.0 a purchases) and if we do a simple extrapolation exercise to the whole of 2019, trade between Andalusia and Portugal should slightly exceed the figure reached in 2018. These numbers highlight the importance of Portugal for the Andalusian export offer and in some sectors I would say which is of crucial importance, for example, for every four euros sold from Andalusia to Portugal, one euro corresponds to agri-food, and in recent years new sectors have been incorporated into the trade balance ranking such as the goods sectors industrial high and medium technology, aeronautics, plastic, technological, chemical, textile, etc., and the prospects are very interesting adores, consolidating Portugal more and more as an important client of Andalusia.
Another aspect that seems important to me to highlight is the need to find ways of cooperation between Andalusian and Portuguese companies in all sectors and in the many possible ways – creation of joint ventures, joint ventures, partnerships, etc. -, taking advantage of the advantages competitive that each company can bring, because it is never enough to reaffirm that in an increasingly globalized market and with so many challenges cooperation is the key to survival. To all Andalusian entrepreneurs we offer the services of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Luso Española, based in Lisbon, in the search for new business opportunities and support them in their internationalization efforts in this market so close and with as many possibilities as it is The Portuguese market.