Join the new world

In a series the Ministry of Foreign Affairs likes to present foreign nations to the Norwegian public. After having dealt with the USA in our previous episode of the series, it is now time for a country everybody has heard of and which - according to Hollywood is the target for almost every alien attack - the United States. The Flag of Portugal

Society
The Portuguese society is about an order of magnitude bigger than the Norwegian society. Most users from Portugal seem to be Portuguese since their media is almost entirely held in that language.

Geography
Portugal consist of 7 core regions offering Fish, Fruits, Grain as well as Aluminum. Furthermore two regions boost the housing economy, offering Sand and Limestone. In addition to the seven core regions Portugal is engaged in Venezuela at the moment, possessing two regions which are not connected to the capital, offering Oil and Wood. The Portuguese economy hence obtains a bigger boost than the Norwegian economy.

Fiscal System
Portugal set the work taxes to 3%, regardless of the industry branch while Norway has those taxes set at 1%. The import taxes of Portugal are set to 1% with the exception of houses, while Norway has import taxes between 1% and 10%. The Norwegian VAT is, on average, a bit lower than the Portuguese system setting VAT to 10% for houses and to 5% in the remaining branches.
Could be: Geirangerfjord, Norway - Actually is: Azores, Portugal

We contacted the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thydan, and asked him some questions in order to gain a deeper insight to Portugal.


Could you briefly introduce yourself to the Norwegian audience?
Hello, I'm Thydan. At the moment I'm the Portuguese MoFA and also the dSG of Leto. I have also been SG of Leto and CP, vCP, vMoFA and MoE in Portugal. My character ingame is a copy of me in RL. I'm usually quiet but at the same time I have friends everywhere that help me when I need it.

Could you describe the Portuguese society?
Our users are almost all from Portugal. However, many of our players are in other countries like Argentina or Israel.
In relation to the political life...we don't invest much time in it. The majority of our population likes to live the military side of the game.

Norway and Portugal are located in very different parts of Europe. What are our differences / similarities?
In RL we have many obvious differences: the sun 😃

Ingame we are similar, actually. We are on the same side at the moment and we both have a group of countries that are like brothers to us. To Norway this is Asgard, to us this is CUAP.
A difference would be the military power. Still, Norway can count on its allies to help when they need help.
The Portuguese region of Algarve

What does Portugal know about Norway? What is the reception of Norway in Portugal?
Portuguese people know one thing about Norway for sure: codfish!
Our fisherman travel to Norway only to fish your delicious codfish, and we have to thank to you for that 😃

There used to be times when Portugal was more or less constantly attacked by Spain. How did this change to what we observe today?
Well, if I remember, the last time that we were in a real war vs Spain was in January'14. Since that month, Spain was wiped by Argentina in April and by Serbia this month.
Also, during that time, Portugal and Spain had (or tried to) reach NAPs. I believe that the situation on the peninsula is more peaceful now.
However, we can't deny that many Portuguese players consider Spain as our NE for ever and ever. 🙂

In recent months we saw more or less every superpower invading Spain. What are the Portuguese relations to Spain? How did Portugal manage to stay out of those conflicts?
Basically we don't like them (i.e. Spain) and they don't like us. We try to show that in an indirect way like fighting for our allies against Spanish allies.
But we have to see that there is like a poetic justice in this situation. Spain had us wiped for a long time, now was their time to be wiped. Let's see how things will roll.

A few months ago the housing industry has been introduced. Did this introduction have any effects on the Portuguese economy?
Economy? What economy?

The house industry is not a big business in Portugal. Not even with the new update including the overtime points.

Portugal did engage in Venezuela, did you find some leftover pieces of Columbus there?
Of course 😃
And Columbus was Portuguese (conspiracy theory), the history books are wrong.

Even if it wasn't from Columbus, we would find leftover pieces from a Portuguese, because the Portuguese were and are everywhere 🙂


We thank you for taking the time to answer those questions, and hope to further strengthen ties between our countries in future.

noenting
Directorate of Embassies
Ministry of Foreign Affairs