A visit to France by the representatives of the Portuguese Sports Foundation to carry out the international promotion phase of the internationalisation project of the Portuguese Network of High Performance Sports Centres.

Following the project for the internationalisation of the Portuguese Network of High Performance Sports Centres – HIGHSPORTUGAL, Market Access, a company selected by public tender, carried out the activity 3.3 of this project, entitled “International Promotion Actions with the organization of meetings and exploratory talks in the targeted markets, advised by expert consultants to promote the national offer of HPSC”.

The execution of this activity includes actions to promote the Portuguese HPSC in the 10 targeted markets – Germany, Angola, Australia, Brazil, China, the United Arab Emirates, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and Sweden.

Giving continuity to the exploratory contacts held by Market Access with the French market, Paulo Marcolino, Executive Director of the Portuguese Sports Foundation, was in Paris from May 23 to 26, 2018, accompanied by the consultant Tatiana Fernandes, in order to meet with the entities designated for the pursuit of the objectives of the aforementioned project.

On May 23, meetings were carried out with entities of the fencing modality, with the French National Technical Director, Laurence Modaine; Pentathlon with Technical Director, Christian Roudaut; Tennis, with Pierre Ramamonjisoa, Sports Agent of the French Tennis Federation.

On May 24, the day was dedicated to Athletics, with a meeting with the team logistics manager, Jean Menigoz; to Rowing, with a meeting with Pascale Bouton, Deputy National Technical Director of the French Rowing Federation.

Then, on May 25, it was time to advance on meetings with the French Federation of Adapted Sports, with the National Technical Director Marie-Paule Fernez; Taekwondo experts, with National Technical Director, Patrick Rosso; Table Tennis, with the Team Director of French Team, Jean-Claude Decret; and with the Becube Agency (Sports Communication), in the presence of its CEO, Christian Ferreira.

Lastly, on May 26, it was time of the French Olympic Committee to be visited with Patrick Cluzaud, Olympic Director of Polo and High-Performance Sport making the honors; The French Paralympic Committee, with the Cabinet Director, Elie Patrigeon and the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP) in the person of the Director of International Relations, Patricia Boujon Delesque.

In addition to these contacts with the aforementioned entities, a meeting was also held via Skype with Jean-Luc Arassus, President of the French Surfing Federation, because of the agenda incompatibility of both sides.

It should be noted that the presence of the Executive Director of the Portuguese Sports Foundation in this mission was an asset to the institution, not only in the context of this Project activity, but also to strengthen future agreements, by consolidating strategic contacts with the entities mentioned above.