In parallel, on 29 and 30 May, a business event will be held organised by the two respective employers' associations (the CEOE on the part of Spain and the CIP on the part of Portugal), which will include a speech from the two Heads of Government in the morning of the second day.
On a preliminary basis, the 6th Spain-Portugal Parliamentary Forum was held on Monday, 22 May, inaugurated by the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament, Ana Pastor, and by the President of the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic, Eduardo Ferro. This Summit will also offer the possibility of holding the Spain-Portugal Security and Defence Council on 29 May, which will be held simultaneously to the sector meetings of other ministerial departments.
The following ministerial departments will take part in the Summit: Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; Defence; Home Affairs; Public Works; Education, Culture and Sport; Employment and Social Security; Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environmental Affairs; as well as the State Secretariat for Research, Development and Innovation. A series of agreements and instruments are scheduled to be signed, and a Joint Declaration will be adopted.
The main issues of interest to be addressed at the meeting of Heads of Government, in addition to a general review of the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries and the intention to continue reflecting on how to improve cross-border cooperation, are the relationship of the two countries with the European Union: Brexit; the debate on the future of the European Union, with a particular focus on strengthening the Economic and Monetary Union and the renewal of the governance of the Eurozone; the future financing of the European Union; strengthening the social dimension of the EU so that the benefits of the internal market and the Euro reach down to all citizens; as well as a review of the state of the work on energy interconnections between the two countries and the rest of the European Union.
In terms of international affairs, the two Heads of Government are due to jointly tackle relations with Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and with the MERCOSUR countries.
Bilateral trade and investment relations
Economic relations between Spain and Portugal are particularly close. The two countries constitute a genuine Iberian market, where the flow of trade and investment relations is continuous, driven by the presence of a large number of companies (2,200 Spanish companies and 400 Portuguese companies) in both countries.
Bilateral trade has steadily increased over recent decades, to reach a record high of 28.8 billion euros in 2016. Spanish exports to Portugal in 2016 exceeded 18 billion euros while Spanish imports from Portugal exceeded 10 billion euros. Portugal is ranked fifth in terms of the destination of our exports and is our eighth ranked supplier.
For Portugal, Spain is its leading customer and its leading international supplier. Almost one third of products imported to Portugal come from Spain while Spain is the destination for one quarter of Portuguese exports. This trend is continuing in 2017. According to the figures for January and February of this year, bilateral trade has grown by 9.5% on the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, investment relations between the two countries are also very intense. The incorporation of Spanish companies in Portugal is particularly strong. Portugal is the sixth ranked destination for our investments, with an investment stock in 2014 of 17.88 billion euros, while Portugal is the 18th ranked investor in our country, with an investment stock of 2.34 billion euros.
Pool Moncloa / Diego Crespo / Archivo