The Hannover Messe’22 fair “is AICEP’s largest investment in the last decade in a promotional action,” he says, in an interview with Lusa, the organization’s president, adding that, in global terms, it is around four million euros.
Hannover Messe’22 is held in Germany, between May 30 and June 2, and will be opened by the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa.
“This is the largest investment by AICEP in the last decade [Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal] in a promotional action”, says Luís Castro Henriques, pointing out that there are “about three million euros of direct promotion at the fair”, “through a central pavilion”, where Portugal will have a conference area “permanently and a very, very large one, not only of good Portuguese, innovative and technological products, but also of good alliances between Portuguese companies and German companies”, as well as of German companies with the Portuguese university sector.
Also “we will have a set of satellite pavilions distributed throughout the fair and, therefore, presence, I would say, everywhere”, describes the president of AICEP.
In addition, “we also have indirect support” for the presence of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) at the fair, “in which about another 1.2 million euros will be used”details the person responsible.
Therefore, in global figures, “we are talking about an investment of four million euros by the Portuguese State,” he summarizes.
This is “a very significant number and in which we expect the return to be of the magnitude of the hundreds of millions of euros of increased exportseither directly, through direct purchases from Portuguese companies, or also through German investment, which is of an export nature, as we have seen in recent years and, therefore, will be re-exported from Portugal”, Luís Castro underlined. Henriques.
As for expectations, these “are very positive”, he concludes, pointing out that the fact that Portugal is a “partner country stems from a choice by the German State and, therefore, there is a clear logic here on the part of the country itself. German State indicating to its industry that Portugal is a good destination for industrial production, for associations and for investment” and “that alone is very positive”.
So, AICEP “has believed for several years and, in fact, when this negotiation began, we were fully aware that our companies in these sectors —we are talking about precision engineering, metalworking, machinery, energy, automation, digital solutions for industry — Portugal has, in fact, surprising offers”.
Hannover Messe’22 is therefore “the ideal fair for us we can change the perception (…) of the German intermediate industryThis is because “today we have 550 German companies operating in Portugal, if we look at it, all the big German companies already operate or produce or have ‘software’ development centers”, that is, “they are already here”.
Therefore, “what we want is to change the perception exactly of others who still don’t know” and hence the expression “with which Portugal goes to Hannover Messe’22 – ‘Portugal makes sense’ [Portugal faz sentido]”, he explains.
“We are fully aware and confident that our industry is prepared to be at the best fair in the world, that it has competitive solutions to surprise” at the event “and that it manages to have a competitive approach to dealing with its German peers and partners”, he reinforces Luis Castro Henriques.
In fact, “there is no opportunity for greater notoriety at an industrial level, either for metalworking, or for precision machinery, or for digital solutions for industry, or for industrial management software integrated in industry 4.0, or for new energy solutions. that the fair Hannover”, he insists.
In addition, “that Portugal is a partner country is clearly a big bet here at AICEP and I am very happy with this bet”, underlines the president of the agency.
At a time when the world is coming out of the pandemic, “our expectation is that the vast majority of visitors this year will continue to be Germans and Europeans (…)”, so the focus “is clearly Germany and then, obviously, the other European countries”, he continues.
Hannover Messe makes known “everything that happens at the fair globally, from China to the United States and therefore we also hope to capitalize on that, but if you ask us what our main objective is, clearly, to work with German industry”, he stresses. .
Luís Castro Henriques adds that there is a “very, very large” cycle of conferences at the fair.
“The pavilion, after the institutional events on Monday, will permanently have seminars where we will highlight the successful partnerships already made”, as well as access to Portuguese talent, innovative solutions developed in Portugal, either in partnership with German companies, or from scratch by Portuguese Companies, “always in great collaboration with the university system”, says
“We will have a series of entities from the university, research and research system” that will be represented at the fair, “I think that the very scale of our presence, all the action, will in fact be able to fill the Hannover fair, which is a great challenge ”, considers Luis Castro Henriques.
In addition to the promotion and notoriety part, the Hannover fair also has a political component.
Luís Castro Henriques recalls that it all started with “an invitation from the German State which, in practice, is a recognition of the quality of the Portuguese industry”.
But “it is also the recognition of the good understanding of Portugal as a partner, obviously a member country of the European Union, so that we are all in the same market, but we do not have the slightest doubt: it is a clear signal for German industry that Portugal is a good destination for investment, for associations, for the development of new solutions and, therefore, obviously, it also has a great political component”, points out Luís Castro Henriques.
In fact, “on the first day of the fair, the German chancellor’s first visit will be to the Portuguese pavilion, where she will hold a small seminar and where we will present exactly why Portugal and why Portugal makes sense”, exemplifies the president of AICEP.
Source: Observadora
