British Commissioner for Trade received at the Council Chambers

On the first of three days visiting Porto, the British Trade Commissioner for Europe was received, at the council chambers, by the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira. During his first visit to the city, Chris Barton was accompanied by the Regional Director for Business and Trade, João Sebastião, and the minister advisor and deputy head of mission, Nigel Bound both working at the United Kingdom Embassy in Lisbon.

The role of the Trade commissioner is to encourage a trade and investment relationship between the United Kingdom and other European countries, improving the market access for British Companies in Europe, attracting investment from European Countries to that country, encouraging exporting from the United Kingdom to Europe, and influencing multilateral trade policy with the continent.

Last year the DIT Business Awards – an initiative of the British Embassy in Portugal, which recognizes the efforts of Portuguese Companies which invested in the United Kingdom and the success of British companies in Portugal – awarded 11 companies, among them Porto’s Critical Software, iLoF, FairJourney Biologics e Didimo.

At the time, Chris Barton highlighted how “British and Portuguese companies, whose success is now recognized, are the best example of the meaningful relationship between the United Kingdom and Portugal and which will continue to support with this narrow cooperation between both countries and in the European scope”.

On Wednesday morning, the British Commissioner participated in the opening session of the conference "Fintech Challenges and Opportunities in the Portuguese market" organized by the British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, and, early in the afternoon contributed to the dialogue between Portugal and the United Kingdom, promoted by Porto Digital, on the impact of emerging technologies.

On Thursday, the British commissioner will be at UPTEC – Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia da Universidade do Porto for a masterclass, organized by the British Business and Trade Department, on the British ecosystem of angel investment and venture capital.

The initiative is part of the Produtech Digital Innovation Hub, a digital innovation network for industry, whose mission is to foster digital transformation of industry companies in the region and boost the innovation ecosystem.