Deputy Prime Minister Paulo Portas last week announced a package of contracts between Portugal and Venezuela worth €1.6 billion.
The figures exclude the contract worth €4 million already signed between the Venezuelan government and construction group Teixeira Duarte to build a motorway linking Caracas with La Guaira, currently the biggest construction project undertaken by a Portuguese company in Latin America and labeled an “icon of Portuguese cooperation” in the region, reports Expresso newspaper.
The deputy prime minister said that the potential value of understanding memoranda, minutes of commitment and agreements signed under the Ninth Joint Bilateral Monitoring Committee held in the Venezuelan capital was in excess of €1.6 billion.
“This is crucial to our business as we suffer an economic downturn because exports and internationalisation provide a rearguard for Portugal and those who work in the country,” commented Portas.
Within the construction sector, and in addition to that already signed, Teixeira Duarte also celebrated closing a deal that will see the building of a number of silos in Puerto Cabello and Maracaibo and the refurbishment of the Dianca shipyards.
Contracts were also signed by ceramics company Recer for the development of the multi-industry Estado de Sucre facility and Martifer, which specialises in metals and renewables, for the refurbishment of the Guiria shipyards.
Steel fabrication specialist Amal got the go ahead to build the Cumana Convention Centre.
Yutsu, a consortium led by JP Sá Couto and Prológica, will provide 1.6 million Canaima computers this year and 50,000 tablets for university education.
The package will also see Portuguese companies participating in social housing projects, an example being the Lena group, which is already overseeing several projects in Venezuela.
Meanwhile in the meat-exporting sector, Iguarivarious will provide 7,000 tons of pork shank to the Latin American country.
