On the morning of November 11, 2021(GMT+8), the Opening Ceremony for "Seminar on Trade Promotion for Portuguese-speaking countries" hosted by Ministry of Commerce and organized by MOFCOM Training Base for International Business Officials (Shanghai) was held online. Ms. Liu Beimin, Researcher with Division of Foreign Economic Cooperation of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce and Mr. Chen Wei, Executive Vice Dean of the College of International Education of our university attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.
Liu Beimin pointed out that foreign trade is an important engine for promoting global economic development and an important starting point for China's reform, opening up, and innovative development. Since 2018, the construction of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, the construction of trade zones, the internal demand for infrastructure and the free flow of trade in Portuguese-speaking countries have been accelerating, driven by a series of measures, China's foreign trade has grown year by year, including a "V"-shaped reversal trend under the background of the 2020 epidemic, which means, the Imports and exports are not only better than expected, but also set a new historical record. She sincerely hopes that this Seminar will make a contribution to promoting trade cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
Chen Wei said that the 4th International Import Expo successfully held in Shanghai recently is a major move of the Chinese government to firmly support trade liberalization and economic globalization, and to actively open up the market to the world, building an open cooperation platform for the development of international trade. Our training base will definitely use the accumulated rich experience and resources to share China, especially Shanghai’s successful practices and experience in promoting trade development and cooperation through this seminar, and inject new vitality into the construction of the Shanghai Trade Center.
Mr. Luis Cassandra Piredo de Santos, Chairman of the Sao Tome and Principe Equality Foundation, expressed his sincere gratitude to the organizers of this Seminar. He believes that since the implementation of the "Belt and Road" initiative, China has formulated a number of capacity-building actions in various fields for Portuguese-speaking countries, shared the experience, disseminated the knowledge, and helped promote the economic and social development of the Belt and Road Countries.
The Seminar will last for 14 days and 42 government officials and corporate executives in related fields from 4 countries including Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe will participate in the training. The Seminar aims to cultivate talents in this field for Portuguese-speaking countries, further expand the communication and exchanges between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, and promote the development of various forms of mutually beneficial cooperation.
Written by: Guan Rui
Photographed by: Shi Xiaomei
Reviewed by: Chen Wei