Portuguese Economy Minister Pedro Siza Vieira has said his country still welcomes Chinese investment, which has helped it through its economic downturn in the past few years, Bloomberg reports.
“We are a country open to investment from all walks of the world,” the news agency quotes Mr Siza Vieira as saying in an interview. “Chinese investment has been significant for the past few years, and we welcome it.”
The report says China Three Gorges Corp. offered in May €9.1 billion (about US$10.4 billion) to raise its stake in Portuguese utility EDP-Energias de Portugal SA.
The minister said the Portuguese economy would keep growing at a rate faster than the EU average, driven by exports and investment.
The Portuguese government expects the Portuguese economy to grow by 2.2 percent next year, while the European Commission expects the EU economy to grow by 1.9 percent, Bloomberg says.
