These announcements were made by António Costa at the II Sustanaible Blue Economy Investment Forum at the Estoril Congress Center, in Lisbon.

In his speech, the chief executive highlighted that the sea economy "today directly employs, in the European Union (EU) alone, around 4.5 million people, generating a turnover of around 667 million euros and an added value of 184 billion euros".

"But its potential is much greater, it is estimated that on a global scale, the weight of the blue economy could double by 2030 and that, as a whole, sustainable investments in the economy produce benefits at least five times greater than the costs within a horizon 30 years", he said.

Highlighting that Portugal has "jurisdiction over almost 50% of the European maritime space and almost 50% of the respective marine soils and subsoils", the Prime Minister assured that the Government will continue to work so that the issue of oceans continues "to be central in agenda of European leaders".

"On the other hand, we maintain our pivotal position in the blue economy. We will bring forward the target for the creation of 30% of marine protected areas to the end of 2026", announced the prime minister. Until now, the Government had planned to achieve this goal by 2030.

In the area of renewable energy, the chief executive said that Portugal has the ambition to "reach an installed offshore wind energy production capacity of 10 gigawatts by 2030".

Alongside these announcements, António Costa highlighted that Portugal is “strongly committed to the decarbonization of maritime transport” and “continues to actively invest in infrastructure for the blue economy”, noting that, in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), a “funding plan of 87 million euros for the creation of 'Hub Azul'” Portugal, “a network of research and development centers and universities focused on marine science, technology and innovation”.