Ministers from China and seven Portuguese-speaking countries gathered in Macao on September 24 to explore ways of furthering their economic and trade cooperation.

They are attending the 2nd Ministerial Conference of the Forum on Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese- Speaking Countries which opened here Sunday morning.

Addressing the conference, Chinese State Councilor Hua Jianmin said in the past three years, all cooperation approved by the 1st conference has been carried out smoothly with remarkable results through joint efforts of the forum member countries. He said the cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries enjoys great potentials and has a broad prospect.

He also proposed that all member countries to expand the scope of their economic and trade cooperation and further perfect the mechanism of the forum so that the cooperation can be deepened and achieve more and more results.

Expressing warm welcome to all participants to the conference, Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region Edmund Ho Hau Wah said Macao is willing to continue serve as a platform for and make its contributions to the cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.

The Chinese delegation to the two-day conference is headed by Commerce Minister Bo Xilai, who met with his counterparts of the countries on Saturday.

The 2nd Ministerial Conference, with the theme of " Strengthening Cooperation, Common Development," will make a retrospective analysis of the implementation of the "Action Plan for Economic and Trade Cooperation" approved at the 1st conference held in 2003.
A string of objectives for the next three years (2007-2009) is also expected to be set.

A business conference, bilateral meetings and a photo exhibition on the achievements since the first conference are also scheduled.

The seven Portuguese-speaking countries are Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Timor-Leste.

Editor: Yan