Chinese, Portuguese diplomats call for enhanced cooperation in post-pandemic recovery

LISBON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Diplomats and economic experts called for enhanced Chinese-Portuguese economic cooperation in the post-pandemic recovery at a webinar that kicked off here on Thursday.

Bilateral trade between China and Portugal has witnessed great progress while the world economy has declined and international trade and investment shrunk sharply due to the pandemic, said Chinese Ambassador to Portugal Zhao Bentang in his opening speech at the webinar titled "China-Portugal: New Opportunities in the Context of European Recovery."

The Chinese ambassador said that China continues to be Portugal's largest trading partner in Asia, and China's investment in Portugal has also been expanding, which will inject new impetus into further cooperation and joint development of third-party markets in the future.

Zhao said that China and Portugal share similar strategies of future development of innovation, digital transformation and green energy in China's 14th Five-Year Plan and Portugal's Recovery Plan.

He stressed that the similar vision of development provides favorable conditions for the two countries to conduct in-depth economic and trade cooperation and jointly explore new opportunities.

"I believe that European economic recovery and China's economic transformation will inevitably give rise to a lot of opportunities ... If Chinese and Portuguese enterprises can catch up with the new opportunities, they are expected to achieve their own leap-forward development, and push Chinese-Portuguese economic and trade cooperation to a new high as well," the Chinese diplomat said.

In a pre-recorded video speech, Portuguese Ambassador to China Jose Augusto Duarte spoke highly of the achievements in Portuguese-Chinese economic cooperation in the past years, and vowed to push forward bilateral ties in various fields.

"China has proved its stable and predictable progress in scientific and technological innovations, and will make even more in the coming future," Duarte said.

He expressed his hope that the two countries will use their respective technological advantages and know-how to strengthen their cooperation in the fields of electric vehicles, renewable energy and green transformation.

He emphasized the importance of Portuguese-Chinese enterprises' joint efforts to tap the potentials of the third-party market of Portuguese-speaking countries.

The two-day webinar, hosted by the Lisbon branch of Bank of China and co-organized by the Chinese Enterprises Association in Portugal and Portuguese-Chinese Young Entrepreneurs Association, was attended by around 80 guests and business representatives, including former Portuguese Foreign Minister Antonio Martins da Cruz, President of Portuguese Economic, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (AICEP) Luis Castro Henriques and Xu Haifeng, Chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU.