The economies of China and Lusophone countries are highly complementary and stronger business ties serve the fundamental interests of both sides.
State Council Premier Mr Wen Jiabao said this at this morning’s opening of the Third Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.
In his keynote address to the Conference, Mr Wen underlined the theme of advancing common development through diversified co-operation and highlighted four aspects of cooperation, namely increasing bilateral trade, promoting two-way investment, exploring new areas of co-operation and giving full play to Macao’s role as a co-operation platform.
The Premier also noted that both China and Portuguese-speaking countries should open their markets wider to each other and fight trade protectionism together, in a bid to raise the volume of bilateral trade to US$100 billion by 2013.
China was willing to buy more from Portuguese-speaking countries and phase in zero-tariff treatment to the majority of commodities imported from Portuguese-speaking countries in Asia and Africa, said the Premier.
He said China supported Chinese enterprises to invest in Portuguese-speaking countries and welcomed companies from the Lusophone world to start businesses in China.
He pointed out that co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries should not be limited to economy and trade; but should be expanded to new areas such as education, culture, health and sports.
According to the Premier, the Forum is both a bridge for co-operation and a bridge of friendship, producing real economic benefits and bringing China and Portuguese-speaking countries closer.
In reviewing the past success of the Forum, Mr Wen noted that bilateral trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries had surged from US$10 billion in 2003, when the Forum was founded, to US$77 billion in 2008.
In the first three quarters of this year, two-way trade reached US$68.2 billion, year-on-year rise of 57 per cent.
By the end of 2009, Portuguese-speaking countries had set up more than 700 companies in China with a total investment of more than US$500 million while China’s investment in these countries had exceeded US$1 billion.
