Portugal “can’t stop” to catch the “wave of recovery” once the crisis passes, Costa says.

Prime Minister António Costa said this Friday that despite “difficult and demanding times”, Portugal “cannot stop” to be able to catch the “wave of recovery” when the crisis passes.

“These are difficult and responsible times, but we must not stop. We must create conditions and confidence for the materialization of investments. to catch the wave of recovery,” said António Costa.

In Trofa, in the Porto area where he visited Biala, the prime minister praised the pharmaceutical company and used it as an example to convey messages about the need to overcome the crisis or the importance of investing in science and modernization.

“Between 2019 and 2022, we have certainly gone through two of the most difficult and atypical years of our lives. The easiest thing to do was to stop, and there were many times when we had to stop to protect each other’s health. Bial did not stop. the moment we are living in now. Times are demanding, but we must keep moving forward,” the minister said.

In a speech following a visit to the Bial facilities, a trip that included the opening of an industrial building expansion and an antibiotic production facility, António Costa mentioned that Portugal “is a European Union (EU) country that is EU this year.”

“And 83% of Portuguese industrial companies that have expressed their intention to invest in 2023 maintain this intention or intend to accelerate investment,” he added.

Together with ministers and the Minister of Economy, Health and Science in the audience, as well as several businessmen and heads of health-related institutions, António Costa provided clues that would make possible a “significant leap” in the country’s development.

The official began by calling the investment in science “essential” in addition to technological upgrades and a bet on the global market.

“If we want to make a significant leap in our development, if we want to achieve the goal set in our medium-term agreement in terms of social coherence to increase the productivity of our companies by 2% per year, it is extremely important to invest in science, in technological modernization and produce for a market that is not our 10 million market, but the global market,” he analyzed.

The prime minister recalled the goal he has set for the EU and Portugal by 2030 to invest 3% of their gross domestic product in research and development, a commitment that aims at one-third to public institutions and two-thirds to private sector companies.

“In order to follow this path, we must work now. We have eight years to achieve this goal in 2030, and if we could achieve it in seven years, it would be fantastic for the country,” he said, returning to the topic of the current crisis and the country needs to be able to resist.

“It is worth resisting the pressure of the crisis, resist the pressure of the crisis and invest. We must come out of this crisis stronger than we were before,” he added.

Finally, Costa pointed out that “without protectionism” Europe and Portugal should strengthen their autonomy and their own production of essential goods.

“The EU, first because of covid-19 and now because of the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, has realized that value chains need to be shorter. We are well aware of the risks of having one company on the Asian continent producing 90% of the active ingredients of vaccines. Europe and Portugal must be able to produce the goods they need without the risk of becoming dependent on supply chain disruptions,” he concluded.