The Portuguese Development Bank (BPF) justified the trip to Paris, scheduled for September 19, as a work agenda aimed at strengthening economic cooperation between Portugal and France, mobilizing investment and promoting the sharing of knowledge about business financing. The response comes after the news from Correio da Manhã, which revealed that the public bank will cover the travel costs of members of the Strategic Advisory Council and the chairman of the executive committee, Gonçalo Regalado, who has led BPF since January 2025.
The agenda includes working meetings with Bpifrance, the French public institution for business financing and investment with a balance sheet exceeding 330 billion euros, meetings with the OECD, the Embassy of Portugal in Paris, Portuguese businesspeople operating in France and French businesspeople with investments in Portugal. The objective is to learn about financing models and investment instruments that can be applied to the Portuguese economy.
BPF maintains that in-person contact will enable a direct exchange of experiences about intervention models, financial instruments, business monitoring processes and investment mobilization mechanisms, noting that this knowledge "would not be replicable with the same depth" through remote meetings or those held in Lisbon.
The bank did not disclose how many people will participate in person or the total expected cost, only indicating that the expenses will be published later in the annual report and accounts, following the practice adopted for other trips. The Strategic Advisory Council is composed of 20 members, but BPF did not confirm how many will be present in Paris, stating that "several Council members will have digital participation in the general sessions due to scheduling conflicts and personal commitments."
