We of the Board of Directors believe that Parque EXPO came a long way over the last three years.. The organisation redefined its mission and more importantly began to implement it. What may be of even greater relevance is that its target market, which includes the Portuguese State, government agencies, and autarchies, has recognised this mission. As a result we are often called upon and listened to and frequently we are solicited for proposals and services. Today it is often the customers who are contacting us and not just we who seek out the clients.

We are of the firm belief that we have identified a market niche, and that as a result of our core competencies and organisational evolution, we have developed a heretofore unexplored market, and continues to develop it every day.

The Company motto – reinventing the territory – has become our calling card, and our seal of guarantee that we will provide qualified, profound, rigorous services– a public view on an asset that belongs to us all.

This Board of Directors is proud to have introduced a culture of social solidarity, with a focus on social responsibility and social involvement and a sense of belonging within the society surrounding us. This would hold true for any organisational structure, but is even more demanded of a public company.

The year 2007, in particular, was marked by the resolution, which had been delayed for many years, to a problem area that was damaging to the image of the Parque das Nações as an urban space and to the projection of our image and calling card – the Parque das Nações marina. The acquisition of the company, the award of a tender for the intervention work in the southern basin, forecasted to be concluded within a period of 18 months, will allow a new marina to function in front of the southern waterfront of the Parque das Nações in the summer of 2009.

This acquisition, so often postponed in the past, is in and of itself, responsible for turning a positive net result into a negative result for the 2007 financial year.

Management actions are not always translated into immediate results – this is clearly not one of these cases – but it remains, in our opinion, to be one of the most courageous acts that this Board of Directors has undertaken during the course of this term of office.

In the new projects area  – the interventions in the urban restoration of Lisbon – Frente Ribeirinha da Baixa Pombalina, Ajuda | Belém and Pedrouços | Dafundo – associated with the centennial celebrations of the Portuguese Republic, to the Polis do Litoral Program, first in the Ria Formosa, followed by the Ria de Aveiro and in the north of the country, those in the territories of Arco Ribeirinho Sul (Margueira, Quimiparque and Siderurgia) the Urban Restoration Companies, as well as the extensions, during 2008, of the supply of management services and coordination of the Polis de Viseu, Viana do Castelo, Albufeira, Vila Nova de Gaia and Costa de Caparica Program projects, there transpired a very positive path, and prospects for developments are expected which for over two years could not be considered as more than mere intentions.

The international front, in full activity in Algeria, has contributed to the increased awareness of the new corporate mission, and has launched the foundation for future participation in markets such as Tunisia, Morocco, Angola and Brazil.

The bank debt underwent, throughout the term of the Board of Directors, begun in June 2005, a very significant reduction, dropping from approximately 486 million Euros, in the 2007 financial year, to around 293 million Euros. In the future, the continuation of this reduction be highly dependent on the receivables from the Municipalities of Lisbon and Loures stemming from the Parque das Nações urban management debts.

Two big challenges therefore remain for the next years: The effective operation of the tripartite management (Municipalities of Lisbon and Loures, and Parque EXPO) of the Parque das Nações territory, and the intervention of the Portuguese State Shareholder in the resolution of the structural imbalance of the Company, associated to the liabilities still remaining from the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition and the urban project that was associated with it.

The first challenge has recently shown clear signs of progression and consensus from the two autarchies, who are now with in sync with one another.

Regarding the second dossier – the financial re-equilibrium of the Company – this will necessarily require the direct involvement and commitment of the Shareholder in this Group. This Board of Directors has shown that the Company can be viable. It is now up to the Shareholder to create the remaining conditions required so the Company can develop by means of an increase in capital.

Equally important is the alteration in the organizational structure, by means of the creation of two new companies, separated by the business activities currently performed by Parque EXPO:  Parque EXPO –Land Management Services for the development, design and management of projects for urban renewal and environmental restoration; and Parque EXPO –Urban Management, to conduct the urban management of the Parque das Nações.

The recommendation to create the Parque EXPO company –Land Management Services is based not only on the projects already completed or underway – restoration of the territory currently designated as the Parque das Nações and Polis Programs – but also on the projects currently under development or negotiation, and that have prospectives for significant growth.

There are various motives for the creation of Parque EXPO –Urban Management; commencement of the tripartite company formation process, which will involve the Municipal Chambers of Lisbon and Loures and Parque EXPO, for the urban management of Parque das Nações; isolation of the costs inherent to the urban management of the Parque das Nações which represent a financial burden that Parque EXPO is no longer able to support.

I close in the name of the Board of Directors, with a very special word to the Group’s employees who, without exception, knew how to give their inestimable contribution to transform a set of companies without a visible direction, or common destiny, into a business group with vision, mission, ambition, and prospects for the future.