The PSD commissioned a famous book that is meant to propose a plan for growth. Even though I bought 2 copies, I offered them both, so I am still restricted to the Visao article with the summary. I will start with that, and hopefully by Easter I will have recovered a copy.
I would like to start with Economic Diplomacy. All the way through the famous epic years of Portugal, we were kings of diplomacy with posts and representatives that fought for the interests of the Kindgom all over the place. Thanks to that, I am always proud to tell the story of how the Portuguese introduced the tea in England. However, those times are gone and it is time we keep up with current times diplomacy
Here are some of the book recommendations:
1. Hire a super salesman, ex-top executive, that is in charge of attracting foreign investment into Portugal, across multiple sectors and ministries - agree, I can not say enough how Portugal is bad at selling itself, maybe if someone has a full time job of doing it and gets paid for it, we can bring back the long lost investment
2. Create a PALOP (Portuguese Speaking Countries) dedicated office - what, there is none?
3. Crete a SME dedicated office - again, there is none?
4. Use state visits and high end diplomacy in opening up new markets for Portugal - I wonder what exactly this one means
5. Focus on the concept "Lisbon, European capital for business" - indeed, Lisbon keeps being out of the European cities circuit and I wonder why. It can not just be the geographic locations. A dedicated team should ensure there is focus on the business aspect, conferences, hotels, flights, tax breaks all that is required to make it an appealing place to do business. The sun is there already, we lack the rest
6. Choose ambassadors that have a business profile and provide them with training about the economic situation of the country - again, I do not know what to say. It does not occur to me that even today any representative of the country would not have this type of requirements. But if not then, then please do impose this!
I have to say, the measures above are but half of the ones presented in the article, and probably much less than in the book itself, but they have one thing that I like - consistency - and one thing that I dislike - they are not in place yet. The other common factor is that they seem to be easy enough to implement. It is not the same as when we go speak about reforming justice or the labour law...
I would like to start with Economic Diplomacy. All the way through the famous epic years of Portugal, we were kings of diplomacy with posts and representatives that fought for the interests of the Kindgom all over the place. Thanks to that, I am always proud to tell the story of how the Portuguese introduced the tea in England. However, those times are gone and it is time we keep up with current times diplomacy
Here are some of the book recommendations:
1. Hire a super salesman, ex-top executive, that is in charge of attracting foreign investment into Portugal, across multiple sectors and ministries - agree, I can not say enough how Portugal is bad at selling itself, maybe if someone has a full time job of doing it and gets paid for it, we can bring back the long lost investment
2. Create a PALOP (Portuguese Speaking Countries) dedicated office - what, there is none?
3. Crete a SME dedicated office - again, there is none?
4. Use state visits and high end diplomacy in opening up new markets for Portugal - I wonder what exactly this one means
5. Focus on the concept "Lisbon, European capital for business" - indeed, Lisbon keeps being out of the European cities circuit and I wonder why. It can not just be the geographic locations. A dedicated team should ensure there is focus on the business aspect, conferences, hotels, flights, tax breaks all that is required to make it an appealing place to do business. The sun is there already, we lack the rest
6. Choose ambassadors that have a business profile and provide them with training about the economic situation of the country - again, I do not know what to say. It does not occur to me that even today any representative of the country would not have this type of requirements. But if not then, then please do impose this!
I have to say, the measures above are but half of the ones presented in the article, and probably much less than in the book itself, but they have one thing that I like - consistency - and one thing that I dislike - they are not in place yet. The other common factor is that they seem to be easy enough to implement. It is not the same as when we go speak about reforming justice or the labour law...
No comments:
Post a Comment