Portugal 2000

Arch leading into Lisbon's PraÁa do ComÈrcio

Portugal also made an international impact with its successful six month presidency of the EU, from June to January of this year. One of the most important landmarks of the Portuguese presidency was the Special European Council held in Lisbon in March on the theme: Employment, Economic Reforms and Social Cohesion ñ Towards a Europe Based on Information and Knowledge. It was from this summit meeting that the Lisbon Strategy emerged, a plan for making the EU the worldís most dynamic and competitive economic region over the next ten years.

In many ways, Portugal is a technological pioneer that merits its association with the EUís e-business proposals that were adopted as part of the Lisbon Strategy. A recent report by analysts Warburg Dillon Read describes the Portuguese as ìearly adopters of technologyî who have been able to leapfrog several stages of development straight into the information age. The Portuguese already use more mobile than fixed-line phones and Internet access through the cable television network was rolled out earlier this year.

Oriente Railway Station at the Park of Nations, Lisbon

Portugal is the only country in the world with a fully integrated electronic highway tolling system, known as Via Verde, which directly debits payments from motoristsí bank accounts without requiring them to stop at toll stations. The system, developed by the Portuguese motorway operator Brisa in a joint venture with the Norwegian company Micro Design, is considered one of the most advanced in the world.

Portugal has also pioneered an automatic teller machine (ATM) network, the Multibanco system, which is widely acknowledged as the most sophisticated and comprehensive in the world. It allows most financial transactions, from paying utility bills, taxes and insurance premiums to booking a train ticket or making a bank transfer, to be carried out 24 hours every day at the touch of a button.

The latest prototype ATMs developed by Sociedade Interbanc·ria de ServiÁos (Sibs), the company that runs the network, feature full computer keyboards in steel and large color printouts and provide services ranging from driving license applications to Internet browsing.

More than a decade before the first bytes began to roll along the information superhighway, banks in Portugal opted to share the infrastructure of a national electronic payments network, rather than develop competing systems as financial institutions in most other countries have done.