国内英语新闻:Chinese, Portuguese leaders talk on cooperation

Macao has since served as a bridge between China and Portugal as well as other Portuguese-speaking countries, and the forthcoming third ministerial conference of the Forum for Economic and Commercial Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries in Macao is a proof of that, said Silva.

Looking at the future, Hu said that against the backdrop of a complex and volatile international situation, China and Portugal need to make concerted efforts to further boost their five-year-old comprehensive strategic partnership to better benefit their peoples.

In a four-point proposal, Hu firstly expects the two sides to strengthen mutual political trust and strategic cooperation by bolstering high-level exchanges and broadening communication between governments, legislatures and political parties of the two countries.

Meanwhile, China is confident that Portugal will continue to play an active and important role in securing a healthy and steady development of China-EU relations, he said.

Secondly, he called upon the two sides to shore up economic cooperation and try to double bilateral trade by 2015. He said China is ready to explore with Lisbon ways to upgrade China's economic and trade cooperation with other Portuguese-speaking nations.

Next on Hu's priorities list is that the two sides should step up people-to-people exchanges and further deepen the friendship between the Chinese and Portuguese peoples.

The two sides should make full use of their rich cultural resources to carry out diverse cultural exchange programs so as to bring China-Portugal friendship closer to the publics of the two countries, he said.

The Chinese president also proposed that Beijing and Lisbon beef up cooperation on international affairs and jointly contribute to the construction of a harmonious world.

China values Portugal's important influence on regional and global issues, and is ready to conduct better communication and coordination with Portugal on economic recovery, UN reform, climate change and other matters in order to jointly promote world peace and development, Hu said.