Mário Jorge Machado, an alumnus of UMinho’s School of Engineering, is the new president of Euratex, which represents a sector with around 143,000 companies, 1.3 million workers and more than 50 billion euros in exports.

With a degree in Polymer Engineering, the businessman who chairs Adalberto Textile Solutions has also led the ATP – Textile and Clothing Association of Portugal since 2019.

Being the first Portuguese to assume a position held since 1996 by Italians, French and Germans “is in some way a recognition of the importance of the national industry in the European context and of all the work that has been done by the sector in its international projection”, says the businessman and association leader.