The Águas de Portugal Group participated in a mission to the headquarters of the World Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank in Washington, between 2 and 4 October, where it made its presentation at a “Utility of the Future”, highlighting its capacity of response to the future challenges facing the sector.

Alexandra Serra, Executive Director of AdP Internacional, Nuno Brôco, Engineering Director of AdP Serviços and Pedro Póvoa, Director of Water Assets Management of Águas do Tejo Atlântico made up this mission, which included companies and entities from the national water sector, on behalf of the Group.

According to Alexandra Serra, Águas de Portugal played a determinant role in the process of institutional reform that began in Portugal in 1993 and that is today an internationally recognised case study of success. “Across the world, there are many countries that are in the situation Portugal was 25 years ago and the promotion of the multi-municipal model and the best practices existing at Group companies represent important contributions for inspiring the transformations necessary for the managing entities in such countries, she highlighted.

In turn, Nuno Brôco declared such occasions were of enormous importance as regards gaining recognition of the role of the AdP Group as the driving force in a sector that has exceeded expectations over the last 25 years. He furthermore highlighted how “today, we are an international benchmark, which is also a factor of motivation for our teams that do an extraordinary job inside the country and do not always gain their due recognition. It’s enormously satisfying, as a professional from the water sector, to be able to share the work that the thousands of people in this Group have constructed and daily maintain in their companies.”

For Pedro Póvoa, this provided the chance to share the concept of the Water Factory and the Vira beer, produced from recycled water, and thereby positioning the AdP Group as a landmark reference for innovation - “The presentation of the innovative projects and solutions of Águas do Tejo Atlântico at the World Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank was an incredible experience resulting from the work of a great team that is still able to promise so much more……Vira (shall come)!”

With the core objective of affirming nationally produced solutions and competences and thereby boosting the positioning and renown of Portugal and its water sector among the aforementioned international financial institutions, this mission received backing from PPA – the Portuguese Water Partnership and from AICEP – the Agency for the External Investment and Trade of Portugal in partnership with the Portugal representative to the Boards of Directors of these institutions and the AICEP Delegation in New York.

Following the success of its participation, the Águas de Portugal Group was invited to participate in a high level panel during the Annual Meeting of the World Bank to be held next week in Washington, with the Group represented there by Alexandra Serra.