A decade later - Fundação Luso-Americana

By rui BoAvisTA
mArques*
‘ The bilateral relationship
between portugal and the united
states is not only one of the
oldest bonds for both countries,
but it is also a link marked
by achievement.
’
WWW.IDEIA.PT
A step toward doing
business in Portuguese
A country’s image is actually a complex puzzle made
up of a number of components that are as real and
valid as the sovereign debt, the country’s brand recognition,
its global and regional market share, its
tourist potential, its art and culture, plus myriad
additional factors.
Yet in the case of Portugal, the language makes up
a large piece of the puzzle
as well. It not only links
the nation with its history,
but with its current
partners and its future.
Focusing on the
Portuguese language as an
assert to the international
business world (and other
areas as well) has been a
plan especially dear to
our heart at AICEP (the
Portuguese Agency for
Investment and Foreign
Trade), which is why it
has been gratifying to
learn that the number of
students of Portuguese
in the US has grown by
two digit figures.
We have been witness
to how important
American/Portuguese
student exchange programs
have become at
every academic level, as
the result of partnerships
between the Portuguese
government and four of
the most distinguished
institutions for applied
science in the US: the
Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Carnegie-
Mellon University, the
University of Texas at
Austin and Harvard
Medical School.
Another type of exchange program that has warranted
AICEP support is the INOV-CONTACTO
Program, which every year sends 550 young people
to do internships at corporations throughout the
world. In 2010, 65 young hopefuls had the opportunity
of completing internship programs in the
United States.
The bilateral relationship between Portugal and the
United States is not only one of the oldest bonds
for both countries, but it is also a link marked by
achievement. Indicative of the success of the link is
the fact that the Portuguese company Efacec has
brought dozens of trainees over from the US to train
in the company’s state-of-the-art technology at its
headquarters in Lisbon.
Also relevant is the fact that Portugal’s credibility
as a US direct investment destination has been
on the rise, as the following cases show. In May,
Xerox’s Global Delivery Center was inaugurated
in Lisbon, the first non-USA based Microsoft R&D
Center for Speech Recognition was set up as were
the Microsoft Language Development Center for
Brazil and Portugal, IBM’s BPO Center, and five
CISCO skill-building centers. All involved either
outsourcing operations or the development of new
software applications, which goes to show the
level of competitiveness and the undeniable quality
of the work being done in Portugal.
The time has now come for us to invest in
increasing the number of American students who
come to study in Portugal. The positive impact
such a study abroad initiative stands to have on
the global projection of the Portuguese economy
is highly significant. AICEP is gratified to see that
several partners have joined the Study in Portugal
drive and it is committed to the initiative’s success,
mainly through stepped up, more engaging
participation in NAFSA 2012.
Having more Americans learning Portuguese in
Portugal is one of the best ways of promoting the
concept of “Doing Business in the Portuguese
Language,” which in turn acknowledges that Portugal
has strong ties with all the continents, and a potential
that has just begun to be tapped.
*Coordinating Director for North America, AICeP Portugal Global, New York
Parallel no. 6 | FALL | WINTER 2011 47