China and seven Lusophone countries sign economic co-operation plan

China and seven Portuguese-speaking countries today signed an action plan to further co-operate in economic, trade, infrastructure and a wide range of areas. The accord was signed at the Second Ministerial Conference of China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries Economic Cooperation Forum held in Macao today. The protocol, titled 'The Economic and Commercial Co-operation Action Plan between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries', was signed by the Minister of Commerce, Mr Bo Xilai, and ministerial-level officials from seven Portuguese-speaking countries, namely Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, East Timor and Brazil. In the conference, ministers from China and the Lusophone countries reviewed their partnership in the past three years and highly valued the results obtained. The action plan, which would be implemented from 2007 to 2009, covered a number of measures for stepping up co-operation in areas such as trading, investment, agriculture, fishery, infrastructure, natural resources and training of human resources. Moreover, the ministers agreed that the member countries and Macao should encourage their enterprises to co-operate in different areas, and Macao would continue to host the Third Ministerial Conference in 2009, and go on to function as the economic platform for China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, for the betterment of their partnership in economic areas. The closing ceremony of the Second Ministerial Conference will be held tomorrow morning, to be followed by a press conference attended by Mr Bo and the ministerial-level officials from the Portuguese-speaking countries.