Restarting Portugal to grow: BRP launches challenge and brings Durão Barroso and Nobel Prize in Economics to provide clues

Grow, grow, grow. This has been the aim of the Business Roundtable Portugal (BRP) Association since its creation in July 2021. This ambition is clearly stated in its published mission: "We have been struggling with the country's weak economic and social growth for two decades, but the problems persist or tend to worsen. There is a lack of action and a sense of urgency for change, and Portugal cannot continue to wait. Only with qualified and accomplished people , robust and competitive companies , and an efficient State that promotes equal opportunities and the success of people and companies will it be possible to create an economy that generates wealth and social well-being". But also in the various initiatives that BRP has given life to, with emphasis on the creation of Comparar para Crescer , a website that allows you to observe the country's development in comparison with other European countries and main competitors, in a multitude of relevant indicators.

Now, with the world redefining geostrategic and geoeconomic balances, in a scenario of threat to globalization and peace, and with the European space aware of the need to review priorities (reindustrialization, sustainability, energy independence, growth...) and even its own economic organization, BRP's challenge makes more sense than ever. With a new Parliament established, a Government Program recently approved and the executive's newfound desire to cut ties that have tied us to the bottom of the rankings , expressed with the creation of a Ministry of State Reform, the Business Roundtable relaunches the debate. Ctrl-Alt-Portugal: Relaunching to Grow is the theme that BRP will take to Casa da Música, in Porto, at its annual conference, scheduled for the afternoon of June 30th.

Leading the debate will be strong names from the international and European economic scene, who will share new visions and provide clues so that the country can redesign itself as a Portugal with ambition to grow.

In a programme that outlines global threats and opportunities, the economist and political scientist awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics, James A. Robinson (with Acemoglu and Simon Johnson), a defender of responsible tourism, education and sustainable development, will take to the stage, having been awarded the highest prize in his field for his study of "how institutions are formed and affect prosperity". But also the former Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso , a major driving force behind the enlargement of the European Union and responsible not only for the response to the global financial crisis but also for the Global Alliance for Vaccines - Gavi, created in the wake of Covid and which he chairs.

Among other participants, in an afternoon that proposes "a new look at Portugal and the necessary paths for its sustained growth", at a decisive moment for the country's future, there will also be the opportunity to listen to the contributions of the co-founder and CEO of The Elegant Group, which includes Martinhal Family Hotels & Resorts, United Lisbon International School and Edu Hub Lisbon, Chitra Stern; the co-founder of Talkdesk, which became the third Portuguese unicorn after raising 100 million dollars in a financing round in 2018 Cristina Fonseca (now dedicated to venture capital at Indico Capital Partners, investing in technology startups in Artificial Intelligence, Fintech and Ocean Tech in the Iberian Peninsula); and Nuno Palma , winner of the Stiglitz Prize (2016) and full professor of Economics at the University of Manchester and director of the Arthur Lewis Lab for Comparative Development, whose research focuses on monetary history and long-term economic growth and who wrote The Causes of Portuguese Delay (2023).

It will be an afternoon of collective reflection on how to restart Portugal to grow with ambition and commitment, at an event attended by the directors of the 43 largest national companies that make up the BRP Association. Present in different sectors, geographies and stages of development, together, BRP members invest more than 10 billion euros, accumulate global revenues of 124 billion euros, of which 59 billion at a national level, and employ 424 thousand people, half of them in Portugal, paying a salary twice the average of the private sector. Register by the 26th to attend the annual conference in person or follow everything live, here on SAPO .