Lisbon, June 17, 2026 (Lusa) - The Minister for Agriculture and the Sea, José Manuel Fernandes, stated on Wednesday that Portugal must take a proactive approach towards Mercosur and define a strategy to create added value by investing in the made in Portugal trademark.

“Added value for the agri-food industry is also essential for the open world we advocate, where the concept of reciprocity is upheld, and it is an open world in which we have agreements for which we must also prepare and be proactive,” said the minister at the 8th Conference on Competitiveness, taking place at the Belem Cultural Centre in Lisbon.

Regarding the Mercosur agreement, José Manuel Fernandes noted that the country must develop a strategy for the “Portugal” brand, given that simply speaking Portuguese is not enough to penetrate the Portuguese-speaking market.

“What is our strategy for promotion, for the brand, for the ‘Portugal’ brand, which is stronger than we thought, but it is not enough to speak Portuguese to enter that market of 270 million – referring to Mercosur, where 212 million speak Portuguese,” the minister said at the conference.

In response to the concerns raised since the agreement was announced, the minister noted that although a great deal of meat reaches Europe via Mercosur, Portugal is unrivalled in meat processing.

“We are unrivalled in meat processing and we have a range of products for this processing that are not produced on the other side, which presents an opportunity for us and is obviously added value,” he said.

The minister also highlighted the importance of food security and the need for strategic reserves, recalling the period of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s a good thing that happened; we don’t lack food on our plates, but if we had, we would have recognised the importance and understood the strength of this food security – which is absolutely essential – and the need to strengthen our food storage facilities,” he said.

AJR/AYLS // AYLS

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