Foreign Policy – ​​Political and economic programs

War has come to Europe in 2022 with a brutal invasion of a sovereign state.

Turbulence in the Red Sea threatens one of the main maritime highways of world trade.

Israel and Hamas are fighting a dramatic armed struggle with several regional powers involved.

Venezuela could attack Guyana, its smaller neighbor, to take control of its oil.

In the South China Sea, tensions are at a boiling point.

America is preparing to re-elect Trump, who will leave Europe to its fate.

And Portugal, a founding member of NATO and a maritime nation with Euro-Atlantic security and defense responsibilities, seems to live in a post-historical paradise, where violence and disorder are an anachronism.

That’s at least the feeling we get when we listen to the candidates for prime minister, especially from the two main parties. It will be both their fault and that of those who moderate them, who are excessively worried about the froth of the day.

We went through the cycle of debates without foreign policy and without defense policy at a time when we need it most since the end of the Cold War.

We need more and better for our country.

What alliances does Portugal want to work with to gain a new centrality in the second quarter of the 21st century?

Which geographies should you invest in to diversify your economy?

What partnerships should it explore with a view to strengthening its military capabilities?

What vision and what means are available to the country to fight the wars of new times – in the cyber domain?

How prepared are we in the face of external threats and how do we deal with attacks by non-state actors on our collective security?

All these questions remain unanswered.

We have no agenda. I have doubts that we even have a strategy.

We trust in Brussels and put faith in a herd policy, when the overwhelming majority of EU countries have a reserve of strategic autonomy for themselves.

To this day, our foreign policy is limited to trips by the President, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Economy to some countries. Everything is case-by-case, with no guiding thread.

With a machine as expensive as AICEP and with so many diplomats spread across the world, it is pertinent to ask: what results has this network brought to Portugal’s image in the world, to its political and strategic preponderance? What is the result of these trips in practical terms, materialization of business between Portuguese companies?

We cannot say that the strategy will be to go to the former colonies and take trips to Brussels, the United States of America, India and China. What is the result of the trips of Foreign Ministers over the last 50 years, since the 25th of April? This results in taxes paid by the Portuguese and is something that must be questioned.

Luís Amado, Nuno Severiano Teixeira and Paulo Portas alone did more than anyone else who had to attract international investment and create political alliances at an international level. But it’s not enough. Foreign policy cannot be reduced to international tours and Gold visas. We need a short, medium and long term strategy.

I believe that diversification and foreign investment in the country could take us to a different level.

To be entrepreneurs, we need to know whether we are going to be led by visionaries or by marketers.

Our ancestors were merchants and traders. Today we should think like businesspeople and entrepreneurs.

We should realize that the present and the future are in the emerging economies of the Arab countries, in the Arabian Gulf, in Asia. Not just look at China and India, the obvious ones, but also countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Taijikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey. And, in Europe, look at the Balkan countries and others where we can help our companies to internationalize even further.

Companies no longer trust our leaders to help bring excellent goods and services across borders.

The diplomatic machine has political experience but no experience in economic diplomacy. Therefore, it is important that we do something for our industries, Portuguese agricultural products and our private sector so that we can pay good wages and bring more wealth to our country.

If we are the “Heroes of the sea”, let us do justice to this legacy.

Consensus must exist to help Portuguese companies, entrepreneurs and the Portuguese population to internationalize.

We will value what is national to attract investors and investment, while creating more value in the national territory, with dynamic support for those who raise the flag

national.

By doing this, entrepreneurs, public and private, will be able to go further. Where we will never get if we don’t have a long-term vision.