Jornal de Notícias reports that a trip to the region by a delegation made up of “one hundred businesspeople and three or four ministers” from the country is planned for May.

The visit announced at a preparatory meeting between the Arab-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Porto local authority and the Luso-Saudi Business Council, will also serve to prepare investments in the areas of health, tourism and real estate in the Porto region.

It was Luís Filipe Menezes, who heads the Arab-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who suggested that Arab businessmen invest in the reconversion of the old Petrogal refinery, which has been deactivated since 2021 and whose demolition began in 2023. “It has the same resources as Cascais and [ the zone] is free to be used in large projects. We all know that it can be a fantastic area and that it requires extra financial capacity” due to the costs of soil decontamination, he said.