Portugal has outstanding conditions to sustainably explore marine resources

Portugal has "outstanding conditions, with a huge amount of natural resources, great human capital with qualified people and people who even if not qualified, are dynamic, with the willingness to create, produce, innovate, go further …", claimed Prime Minister Luís Montenegro in Peniche a the opening of the fish processing and sale company Omnifish.

Luís Montenegro stated this company is an example because it combines the exploration and preservation of marine resources with the creation of conditions for a more sustainable environment, sale, research, and the industry through the jobs it creates and the contribution it gives to the economy.

For there to be wealth, public officials must look to the future and follow "corporate friendly and worker friendly policies" because "if these people work abroad, we will miss out on opportunities". The country must be able to "retain human capital and, through it, transform our resources and create value so everyone can have a better life and opportunities".

"We want a country of ambitious people, who own small companies and wants their companies to be medium-sized tomorrow, and then large and very large, who want to sustainably explore natural resources", he added.

Investment

The Prime Minister also visited the Leiria Polytechnic Institute’s Peniche research centre, where the Science and Technology Park project was presented. He noted that after 10 years of being in project and several local governments in power, with two mayors, the companies’ incubator Smart Ocean is being built.

This incubator, with a 6.1-million-euro investment in the ocean economy, inside Peniche fishing Harbour, is associated with the IPL centre that focuses on marine biology, marine biotechnology and aquaculture and fishing resources research.

At the fish processing company, Luís Montenegro also stated that "fiscal policy is an economic policy instrument", adding that "we must be competitive, be a step ahead of the others or offering conditions to people and companies so they feel this is where they belong".

The Government’s plan is "to pay less taxes on work income and particularly for young people, less taxation for companies so they can pay better wages and have means to lever investments". And despite knowing that he will have to come closer to other parties in Parliament, "this is the plan" because "we cannot look again at recipes that have been rested and led to stagnation", he added.

Firefighters

At the opening of the multiuse pavilion of the Peniche Firefighters Humanitarian Association, Luís Montenegro said that the Government "is highly committed to ensuring assistance to the families of the firefighters who lost their lives" and has "underway the processes to compensate a loss that will never be paid, swiftly".

Furthermore, "less than a month from the wildfires we are already paying compensation so people can get up and look to the future", the Prime Minister said in Peniche, adding that the State has "underway, on the ground, assistance to help rebuild the lives of the people affected": those who lost their home or their job, whether in agriculture, forestry, services, or industry.

During his speech to the Firefighters, the Prime Minister also noted the Government’s availability to help the municipalities with solving people’s problems, referring to the Hospital do Oeste being built and the fact that the Leiria region is "one of the first to try the model C Family Healthcare Centres" 

The Prime Minister was with the Secretaries of State for Maritime Affairs Lídia Bulcão and for Fisheries Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar.