Portugal and Luxembourg schedule the II Economic Forum for November

Portugal and Luxembourg will move forward with the 2nd Economic Forum between the two countries on 5 and 6 November. Following from the 1st Forum held in Lisbon in 2022, the initiative will now take place in Luxembourg and will focus particularly on digital technologies, health, and sustainable building, said the Portuguese Prime Minister on Friday. Luís Montenegro spoke during a joint statement in São Bento with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Luc Frieden, after a working lunch between both heads of Government. 

The Prime Minister recalled that Portugal and Luxembourg "have been close partners and special friends for more than 150 years" and have "a very good friendship on bot a bilateral and institutional level, namely within the European Union and NATO". 

Luís Montenegro also stressed that Luxembourg is the country "with the largest Portuguese community abroad in relative terms" with more than 100 thousand Portuguese currently living in the Grand Duchy, around 17 thousand of whom with dual citizenship – a community that "plays an important part on several levels, with a multifaceted expression in terms of activities performed" and "very well integrated". 

The economic ties between both countries were also discussed at the heads of Government meeting, which are already close, can be further developed. Namely, "in the field of energy and, specifically, renewables", another point to be addressed at the Forum in November, which is particularly relevant within the European Union framework. 

"I had the opportunity to once again request from the Prime Minister of a European Union Member State the support we need to have energy interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and Europe, which is a way of encouraging more green energy on the one hand and, on the other, granting Europe energy autonomy", Luís Montenegro stressed. "Through these projects, we are developing Europe’s capability to have greater autonomy in terms of energy; and the last few years have clearly shown the need we feel in this area, while also carrying out a more efficient green transition", the Prime Minister added. 

In the meeting with his counterpart from Luxembourg, other EU related matters were discussed, such as the agenda for competitiveness, developing the European internal market, and the need to have new means of financing the economic fabric. 

"We really do need to set up the Banking Union and a capital market union that can boost equal opportunities for economic players throughout the whole of Europe and, above all, for small and medium-sized enterprises," Luís Montenegro noted.

On an international level, and relating to support to Ukraine, the Prime Minister reiterated that: "We have the aim of being beside every development that can lead to peace. We spoke about the Peace Summit in Switzerland, where both our countries will be represented at the highest level so we can take significant steps towards ending an unfair and unjustified war that is greatly punishing the whole of Europe".