Around 100 Saudi businesspeople and ministers will visit Portugal to assess investment opportunities.
The Porto City Council, the Arab-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Luso-Saudi Business Council announced that a delegation from Saudi Arabia will visit Portugal to evaluate investment opportunities in various areas, such as health, tourism and real estate.
The delegation will be made up of "100 businesspeople and three or four ministers" during the next month of May.
According to LuÃs Filipe Meneses, president of the Arab-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Saudi Arabia is "particularly interested" in investing in the reconversion of the land of the former Galp refinery in Matosinhos.
The investment suggestion came from LuÃs Filipe Meneses and was accepted by Saudi Arabia, and since the land is in Leça da Palmeira, next to the sea, "It has the same resources as Cascais and is free to be used in large projects. It is a fantastic area that requires extra financial capacity", he said.
LuÃsa Salgueiro, Mayor of Matosinhos, is "pleased with all potential investments that may be made on that plot of land". Nevertheless, she stressed that "it is up to Galp to evaluate the investments".
It should be noted that the oil company's old refinery has been deactivated since 2021 and demolition began in 2023. The University of Porto's intention to create a research center was recently announced.