That's why pooling efforts between the 18 municipalities that make up the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) has never made as much sense as it does now. After all, "AML is home to almost three million inhabitants and is responsible for 40% of Portugal's GDP, which puts us in a very important position among European capitals", said the mayor.
A view shared by the mayor of Vila Franca de Xira, Fernando Paulo Ferreira, on the same stage. "The proximity to the capital, to the river and to the major routes in and out of Lisbon, is one of the great arguments for the investors who come to us," he said. Addressing investors, the mayor listed the advantages of Vila Franca's territory: "We have great conditions for logistics development, but also for residential development. Our waterfront is very attractive and we are investing in the creation of major centralities which, in the future, will greatly benefit from improvements in rail links, with a direct train to the center of Lisbon every eight minutes. We also want to invest heavily in the affordable housing segment, particularly in the Built-to-Rent format, through public-private partnerships”. Bringing together preferential conditions for the development of this type of project, starting with the availability of space and including, not least, proximity to the river, which is an essential element for the cooling of these infrastructures; the data center sector is another of the major areas of opportunity in Vila Nova; another major area of opportunity in Vila Franca de Xira”, which, in addition to already hosting the second largest project of its kind in operation in the country, is actively working to attract more investment in the sector”, said the mayor.
Innovation is a cross-cutting development axis in Iberia
As innovation is another of the strategic axes of growth for the region, Vasco Moreira Rato, Lisbon City Council's Councillor for Urbanism, invited Elena Amat, Manager of Metropolitan Coordination and Major City Transformations for the municipality of Barcelona - a city that is known as one of Europe's innovation and technology capitals - gave a lively interview at the end of the morning of the 11th at the Lisbon stand, sharing the experience of the Catalan capital.
Stability - an asset for the country
The last session of the afternoon was the Investors Talk between Nuno Nunes, CIO of Square AM, and Francisco Fezas Vital, Managing Director Real Estate of Blackstone, for whom stability is, more than ever, one of the great assets that our country offers to those looking for a destination to invest internationally. "We are going through times of greater turbulence, and although this is accentuated by the war in Iran, the last few years have been intense in this respect, with a succession of disruptive events, so as investors we have to get used to navigating this climate of greater uncertainty," said the head of the US giant. And in this context, Portugal stands out in a positive way, because - on the one hand - it's a smaller-scale market compared to others, due to the country's size; on the other hand, it has the added value of being perceived as a stable market - which is especially relevant nowadays.
