Of the total of €58 million being made available to Portugal until 2014, €5.8 million will be made available for Portuguese NGOs. This implies that the support to civil society will be more than doubled compared to the previous period.

"Our cooperation with Portugal will be boosted by the new EEA Grants agreement", says Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Jonas Gahr Støre.

Addressing climate change and public health issues are key areas of support within the new agreement with Portugal. Several public institutions from Iceland and Norway will be involved in the development and implementation of the programmes. Read the agreement with Portugal here

The agreement that was signed 28 March  is the last agreement to be signed on the use of the EEA Grants in the period 2009 – 2014. All 15 countries benefiting from the Grants have now signed agreements on the use of these funds.

The EEA and Norway Grants are Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway's contribution to reducing disparities in the European Economic Area and to strengthening bilateral relations with 15 EU countries in Central and Southern Europe. For the period 2009-14, the total funding amounts to €1.79 billion. Norway contributes around 97% of the total funding.