"The Government has decided that 40% of the European Union cohesion funds for corporate investment must be invested in low population density regions", said Prime Minister Luís Montenegro at the ceremony to celebrate the Castelo de Vide Medicinal Alkaline Waters Company’s 100th anniversary.

Luís Montenegro recalled that in the previous European funding frameworks, "this average was around 31 to 33%", adding that "public power needs to do something to create an economy that settles people and jobs" in the less populated regions in inland Portugal, the so-called low-density regions.

"We also decided that within the outright funds, there should be a 20% increase for investments made in these regions. Normally, the outright funds component is 30% of the value of the investment, so this increase may take it up to 50%", he said.

Opportunities throughout the entire territory

These two decisions "mean that when the most densely populated areas spend their 60% of the funds, these are over, and the difference of a company investing in a region where there are no incentives or where there are incentives of 30% to 50% is highly significant, it is accounted for when the companies are tallying up their investment decisions", he added.

The Prime Minister stressed that "these two measures express our path, a path of positive discrimination in these regions" because "companies either have a patriotic sentiment and vision or else they need a strong incentive to settle in these regions" "in order to have a just and developed country, we need opportunities everywhere".

Everyone is needed

Luís Montenegro also stated that "our concept of company is that the company is, first and foremost, its workers, its directors, the governing bodies, the shareholders, the customers, the suppliers, those who dedicate themselves to innovating, to investing part of their knowledge in leveraging new methods, in transforming their production units, their energy supply, their techniques to produce the end work".

"In addition to this concept of company, which is the demonstration that everyone is necessary for there to be success, the association of the Medicinal Alkaline Waters Companies with the Super Bock Group is also a demonstration of what we want for the economy: scale", he stressed.

In the 1970’s, the Castelo de Vide water company "joined a bigger group, this group retained the unit’s features, its relations with the local community, but it included its product in its portfolio and enlarged the capacity for success in a network which, in the case of Super Bock, is both national and international".

Social responsibility

The Prime Minister said that the fact that "this group keeps this unit alive and forecasts more investment for the future – we are talking about a major corporation with mostly Portuguese capital, as well as foreign capital, but which has social responsibility – shows social responsibility.

"Social responsibility is not just about supporting associations. It’s keeping jobs, investing and offering hope and a future to the people who live here and the ones who collaborate to the products" used in production, "the entire economic reality that gravitates around a major corporation such as this one".

Luís Montenegro also noted the sustainability concerns "with renewable energy production, using it in production and sharing an energy community that enables us at the same time to create wealth and jobs and greater sustainability", making us less dependent on imported energy and protect our environment.

Noting the recent weather events in Spain "and in the Algarve today," these show that "environmental concerns climate change, and sustainability are not just political or academic rhetoric". "We need to address this in a realistic manner, also with hope because we have entrepreneurs, as well as farmers in this region with its high farming sector predominance with environmental concerns.