Costa highlighted that this is one of the five missions the EU defined for scientific investigation and claimed to have appealed that Europe does for scientific ocean research what the USA did for space research last century.

The Prime Minister was speaking at Encontro Ciência 2023, at the University of Aveiro, which is dedicated to the theme “Science and Ocean beyond the horizon.”

António Costa emphasised the importance of this theme: “We have used the oceans for many discoveries, but there’s still much that isn’t known about them in a country where the territory is 97% sea.”

For the prime minister, this scientific knowledge is decisive “for the importance in climate regulation, in food security and in other resources, for which scientific advancements are needed.”

Illuding to the pressure of suspending mining activity in the sea until knowing the risk of these activities, António Costa recognised that it’s “prudent not to mess without knowing what we’re doing,” but also said that “there are also opportunities” as per natural resources, “which are capital for the energetic and digital transition.”

“It implies a greater knowledge of this potential is needed, and this is a step we have to take,” he declared.

The prime minister took the opportunity of around 3000 participants connected to the academic and scientific world being present to emphasise “the enormous contribution of Science to the progress and development of the country in the past decades.”

“The world is changing at a fast rate and when I took my degree, in the 80’s, there were only ten doctorates in Faculty,” he explained. “I visited a company in Oeiras that now has ten doctorates.”

António Costa considered that this evolution should be kept in mind in economic predictions that are made. “In the future, we will have many more people with bachelors, masters, and doctorates in companies, which will allow for the production of goods and services of a greater added value.”

The prime minister also highlighted the importance of dialogue between science and society for the sake of democratic quality, which faces a challenge from the force of ignorance channelled through social media, which he considers to constitute a threat to security. “Scientific development is important to structure democracy because nowadays one doesn’t consult the encyclopaedia, they search it on Google, and the risk of the information being wrong or being misinterpreted is immense.”