Chinese premier meets Portuguese FM on way home

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday concluded his three-day official visit to Cuba and made a stopover in Portugal's Terceira Island on his way back to China.

Premier Li and his wife Cheng Hong were welcomed by Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva and Chinese Ambassador to Portugal Cai Run at the airport in the western island of the European country.

During his meeting with Silva, Li said Portugal is China's good friend in the European Union (EU) and China-Portugal relations have been enhanced in recent years with efforts from both sides.

China is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges, deepen political trust, increase mutual understanding, enlarge pragmatic cooperation, establish closer civilian communication with Portugal and to diversify the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations, Li said.

According to Li, pragmatic cooperation between the two countries has yielded fruitful results in various fields. Chinese investment in Portugal keeps growing and their cooperation in third markets, such as Latin America, has seen excellent results.

He hoped both sides would continue to explore the potential to cooperate in fields like energy, finance and ocean, as well as to resort to complementary advantages to better coordinate in third markets.

China encourages its companies to invest and do business in Portugal, and welcomes Portuguese counterparts to exploit the Chinese market as well, Li said, adding that both countries should make efforts to offer a fair and convenient environment to foreign investors.

As the special envoy of Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, Silva firstly greeted Li and his wife on behalf of Costa.

He said that Portugal and China have enjoyed many exchanges in history and that their bilateral relations enjoy favorable growth momentum.

Portugal wishes to increase the export of competitive farm products and dairy products to China, Silva said.

As an important Chinese investment destination in the EU, Portugal attaches great importance to investment from China, the foreign minister said.

Portugal hopes to further strengthen cooperation with China in fields like energy, transport infrastructure and logistics, and furthermore, it wishes to establish cooperation with China as the third party in wider regions, for example in Africa, Silva said. 

Source : XINHUA