General

In December 2018, China and Portugal signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly promoting the construction of the "the Belt and Road". With the signing of this document, the continuous and continuous connections between China and Portugal have been further tightened by the new era of Silk Road. Jointly building the "the Belt and Road" initiative is "circling" more and more European countries.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Portugal in 1979, we have always been guided by the spirit of mutual understanding, trust, respect, equality and mutual benefit, helping each other and moving forward together. Portugal is the first Western European country to sign the "the Belt and Road" cooperation document with China, the first EU country to officially establish a "blue partnership" with China, and one of the 57 founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Over the years, the cooperation between the two countries in jointly building the "the Belt and Road" has achieved remarkable results.

In the field of economy and trade, China has been Portugal's largest international trading partner in Asia for many years. From January to April 2023, the bilateral trade volume between China and Portugal reached 2.8168 billion US dollars. In the future, the areas of cooperation between the two countries will continue to expand. High quality Portuguese goods such as black pork and wine are heading towards the dining table of Chinese consumers. The two countries will also cooperate in fields such as nanotechnology, satellite applications, and cultural heritage protection. In addition, the blue economy may become the most promising area for cooperation between the two countries. Both China and Portugal have long coastlines and abundant marine resources, making them natural partners for marine economic cooperation. Portugal is also the first country in the European Union to officially establish a "blue partnership" with China, and the prospects for both sides in the development of the blue economy in the coming years are promising. Portugal was also the first European country to develop a green hydrogen production plan, while China is the world's largest producer of solar and wind energy.

In the field of enterprise cooperation, Portugal is a window for Chinese enterprises to enter the European market, and the two countries' enterprises have achieved important results in research and development cooperation. We have registered and established the Energy R&D Center of State Grid Corporation of China - National Energy Grid Corporation of Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal. After years of development, the R&D center has built a research and development platform with European leading level, and has been selected as one of the "Top 100 Portuguese R&D Investment Enterprises" and "EU Joint Research Center Smart Grid Laboratory List". Our advantageous technological achievements have been applied and have won international awards multiple times.

In the field of financial investment, the two countries used financial resources such as the China Portugal Cooperation and Development Fund, the Asian Infrastructure Bank, the the Silk Road Fund, and the "the Belt and Road" special loans to provide financing support for cooperation in key areas such as China Portugal energy, infrastructure construction, production capacity cooperation, and effectively promoted the implementation of cooperation projects between the two countries. At present, Chinese and Portuguese investment projects not only produce good economic and social benefits in the local area, but also some projects have further expanded into tripartite cooperation oriented to Europe, Africa, Latin America and other regions, setting an example for tripartite cooperation within the framework of the "the Belt and Road" in international trade.

In the field of humanities, China and Portugal continue to deepen cooperation, building bridges for mutual understanding and integration between the two peoples. With the strong promotion of Confucius Institutes, the number of Portuguese students studying Chinese has been increasing year by year, and the number of Chinese international students studying in Portugal is also constantly increasing. It is particularly worth mentioning that the Portuguese Luban Workshop is the first Luban Workshop on the European continent and the only Luban Workshop to be personally witnessed and signed by national leaders. On December 5, 2018, the Portuguese Luban Workshop was officially signed and established, with both parties committed to jointly cultivating talents in the fields of electrical automation and industrial robotics. The Luban Workshop brought Chinese technology to the westernmost end of the European continent, and the spirit of Chinese craftsmanship went global. Many overseas school running brand projects represented by Luban Workshop have played an important role in strengthening international exchanges and cooperation between China and the governments, enterprises and colleges of countries along the "the Belt and Road" in international trade, promoting cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, and enhancing the international influence of China's vocational education.

The famous phrase of Portuguese poet Carmens, "The land ends here and the sea begins here", describes the important geographical position of Portugal. It is the European starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, an important hub connecting the Land Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road, and a natural partner in the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road". At present, the development strategies of China and Portugal are highly compatible, the economic and technological complementarities are strong, the cooperation potential is huge, and the prospects are broad. While achieving the existing achievements, we have steadily carried out cooperation in health, green, digital, innovation, marine and other fields, continued to expand the cooperation in the international trade market of three or more parties, and promoted China and Portugal to jointly build the "the Belt and Road" of international trade with high quality to achieve many results, so as to better benefit the two peoples.