Portugal pursues closer ties with North Africa
29/03/2010
The leather and footwear industries in Portugal is hopeful of establishing stronger ties with North Africa after Prime Minister José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa carried out a tour of four countries there in mid-March.
The trip included official state visits to Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. It is the last of these that gives the leather industry in Portugal the greatest optimism because Tunisia is the only one of the four with which the European country has a trade surplus.
Exports from Portugal to Tunisia had a value of EUR 116.4 million in 2009, while imports from the North African country were worth EUR 19.1 million.
A summit meeting between ministers from both countries took place on March 23, resulting in an agreement for Tunisian and Portuguese companies to set up partnerships across a wide range of business sectors.
Leather and footwear are mentioned in the agreement as industries that the two trading partners regard as being of top priority, along with renewable energy, tourism, engineering, textiles and apparel.
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