As part of the 52 Club, an Observador initiative that challenges personalities to reflect on the country's future over the next decade, João Vieira de Almeida shares his vision of the challenges and opportunities facing Portugal.

According to João Vieira de Almeida, ‘few times has the country faced such a complex framework of transformation and uncertainty’, both internally and externally. Multipolar global geopolitics and the retreat of globalisation mean that Portugal needs to make ‘sensitive strategic choices’ and diversify its partners, in a scenario where European stability is constantly changing.

Among the areas of opportunity, he emphasises the importance of the sea, noting that ‘Portugal has one of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones in the world’, which gives the country a strategic role in the Atlantic, both economically and scientifically and militarily. In addition, he stresses that the country's attractiveness is reinforced by its location and the ‘quality of its human capital’ - elements that make Portugal a natural destination for investment in key sectors such as defence, technology and energy.

In the field of energy and the environment, João Vieira de Almeida believes that Portugal has been ‘at the forefront’ and that ‘opportunities are opening up in the bioeconomy and in the requalification of the interior’, with positive impacts on job creation and population settlement.

He concludes that in order to realise these opportunities, close collaboration between the state and the private sector is essential, with the aim of ‘creating the conditions in which these opportunities can and deserve to be exploited’.

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