A 14-member delegation from the Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) visited Portugal recently. At a time when Europe is caught in a recession, organising this visit despite a prevailing mood of pessimism was a bold initiative. How did the delegation go about its business in Portugal?

Though the composition of the GCCI delegation was skewed towards the ship-building industry, maybe it was just as well, as Portugal has a solid ship repair infrastructure, and Goa's needs and Portugal's expertise in this area would have found a meeting point. On the first day itself the delegation visited Lisnave Shipyard situated about 60 kms from Lisbon and spread over 15 lakh square metres. It has a full range of dry docks, repair jetties and workshops to undertake all types of repair, refurbishment and modification.

Sensing a scope for collaboration and a business relationship, two days later, delegation members interested in shipbuilding traversed 90 kms north of Lisbon to visit the Estaleiro Navais de Peniche (ENP) shipyard. ENP is well geared, with state-of-the-art infrastructure and support facilities including a railway siding, hydrolift and an "all weather" building and repair establishment. In today's ship-building, the use of composites is growing very fast and naturally the delegation members had a lot of interest in this. Here ENP shipyard did not disappoint. Fabrication of composite components requires tooling and design expertise and capability in processes like moulding and vacuum bagging. ENP had all that in its large composite workshop and expressed willingness to license out its technology to Goan companies.

Goa is a pharmaceutical hub, with the industry being the third largest contributor to the state's GNP. It was logical to look at opportunities and developments in that field. GCCI President Cesar Menezes, himself having over four decades of experience in that field, met up with Eurotrials, a clinical research company. Rui Melo, Executive Director, Eurotrials, took some members through the company's plans to anticipate and adapt to the new paradigms of clinical research namely developing translational medicine projects and addressing the new challenges of late phase research. Goa has recently started its first clinical research academy to train and develop new talent in that area, hence the meeting with Eurotrials had a lot of relevance. There was also a meeting with another large Pharma group, Azevedos.

Francisco Lume- Pereira, Director, Fomento Group was part of the delegation. The Indian mining industry led by the Vedanta group has acquired big mining interests in Australia & Africa. The Indian Ambassador Primrose Sharma reinforced this point when she pointed out the mining potential mining in former Portuguese colonies like Brazil, Angola & Mozambique. There was a meeting at Associacao Commercial de Lisbao where the delegation was received by the Secretary General, Pedro Madeira Rodrigues. Present there were also representatives of other important bodies like the Portugal-India Chamber of Commerce, Associacao Das Industrias Maritimas, AICEP, and prominent businessmen. The one to one meetings here could fructify into good partnerships in the future.

One of India's, and particularly Goa's, strengths in Portugal is having a reasonably large Goan community there. The Menezes family donated a large sum for refurbishing a room at Casa de Goa, which is a regular meeting place for the local Goan community. This room, named "Pascoale Menezes Business Centre" will be available to Goan businessmen visiting Portugal to conduct their meetings.

There has been a steady growth in the relationship between Goa and Portugal. It started with the visit of their Foreign Minister Mario Soares in 1978 who later became Prime Minister. Then came the visit of the President of Portugal Anibal Cavaco Silva in 2007 who was accompanied by a 60-member business delegation. It was followed by a visit to the GCCI by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Luis Amado, also with a business delegation. There is no link as sustaining as a business link. Trade and industrial collaboration between Portugal & Goa can increase sharply, it is sub-optimal now. The GCCI delegation's visit seems to have moved things forward several steps. A delegation to Goa of Portuguese businessmen is expected in February 2010.

Delegation Members: Cesar Menezes - President of GCCI (Pharmaceuticals) Dr Maria Emilia Menezes (Pharmaceuticals) Jairam Issardas Dialani (Shipbuilding) Nalnish Kumar Singh (Shipbuilding) Rajarama Naique (Shipbuilding) AmirXavier Dario Fernandes (Shipbuilding) Ravindra Shrinivas Kamat (Shipbuilding) Nigel Crucifix Ralph Cabral (Shipbuilding)Osric Terence Cabral (Shipbuilding) Derrick Paul Eugene Menezes (Shipbuilding) Capt James Braganza (Shipbuilding) Gurudas Natekar (IT & Biotech) Francisco Lume-Pereira (Mining) R. S. Kamat (GCCI), seen with Mrs. Primrose Sharma (in center of photo), Indian Ambassdor to Portugal.