One-stop shop is designed to save investors time and money

A NEW investment agency has been launched by the government to boost foreign investment in Portugal.
The Portuguese Investment Agency (API) is targeting foreign companies who can bring new technology into the country and increase exports.
Created to save investors time and money, the agency is the only address foreign firms will need. Based in Porto and with an office in the capital, Lisbon, it is a one-stop shop for both domestic and foreign investors.
It will identify investment opportunities in Portugal and handle all the required administrative procedures, including applications for financial and tax incentives, licensing and installation processes, and the negotiation of special contract regimes.
Foreign companies are being offered quicker start-up times —it will take 20-50 days to license a new company instead of the 14-20 months it has sometimes taken in the past.

Economy Minister Carlos Tavares acknowledges that bureaucracy has been a contributory factor to falling rates of foreign investment in the country in the last two years. Now that is changing.
“Investments in Portugal have simply taken too long,” he says. There are hopes for the completion of one or two major investment projects this year.
Production costs in Portugal are among the lowest in the European Union—40 percent lower in the automotive sector, compared to neighboring Spain. The country’s record for industrial relations is among the best in Europe.
Foreign businesses can establish themselves in almost all sectors of the economy open to private enterprise, and there are two foreign trade zones/free ports in the autonomous regions of the islands of Madeira and the Azores.

Along with 10 other member states of the EU, Portugal has adopted the single currency, the euro. As a full member of the European Union since1986, it offers access to the world’s largest economic market.
It was a founding member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and there is no restriction on the free flow of goods, services, and capital with its EU neighbors. Portugal is also a member of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and NATO.
Most foreign investment in Portugal comes from other EU states, notably the UK and France. The U.S. is the largest non-EU investor. The bulk of investment goes to the manufacturing sector.
Major foreign companies that have invested in the country include General Motors, Volkswagen, Visteon, Delphi, Microsoft, IBM, Lear and Mitsubushi.