On the evening of September 14, 2022 (GMT+8), the opening ceremony for Seminar on Sino-Portuguese Cooperation in the Foreign Market, hosted by Ministry of Commerce and organized by MOFCOM Training Base for International Business Officials (Shanghai) was held online. Zhao Bentang, Chinese Ambassador to Portugal, Yu Yuantang, Director of the Department of European Affairs of Ministry of Commerce, Gu Jun, Director of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce (SCOFCOM) , Chen Runyun, Deputy Director of the Academy for International Business Officials (AIBO), Fernández Dias, General Director of the Economic Activities Department of the Portuguese Ministry of Economy and Maritime Affairs, Miguel Cruz, Director of the Portuguese Infrastructure Agency, Paul Vashi, Executive Director of the Portuguese Entrepreneurs Association, and Tang Haiyan, President of Shanghai Business School (SBS) attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. He Ying, Vice President of SBS presided over the opening ceremony, which was also attended by Xia Xiaoling, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Portugal, Duan Weihua, Director of Project Management Division II of the AIBO, Shen Weilai, Excutive Deputy Director, Liu Beimin, Researcher of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Division of the SCOFCOM, and Chen Wei, Executive Vice Dean of International Education College of SBS.
Portugal is a developed economy, an EU member state and an important partner of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries. Third-party market cooperation is not only an important way to promote international production capacity cooperation, but also an important way to promote economic globalization and build an open world economy. In the context of the rise of anti-globalization ideology, protectionism and unilateralism, China and Portugal jointly organized this seminar to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries and to gather positive energy for global open cooperation.
Chen Runyun said in his speech that the scale and fields of bilateral investment and trade, the form and quality of economic and trade cooperation between China and Portugal are constantly developing, and there is both a foundation and potential for China-Portugal cooperation in the third-party market. It is hoped that this seminar will play a positive role in enhancing mutual understanding between the two sides, promoting bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and Portugal in the third-party market.
Yu Yuantang said that China and Portugal are good friends and partners, which is the fundamental principle for the development of China-Portugal relations. The cooperation between China and Portugal is close and tenacious. The two countries have continuously promoted mutually beneficial and win-win projects over the years, accumulating valuable experience to carry out third-party market cooperation. China is willing to work with the Portuguese side, staying committed to achieving shared growth through consultation and collaboration, improving the cooperation mechanism, building a good cooperation platform, making use of and convening a working group meeting on third-party market cooperation as soon as possible, strengthening strategy, planning and industrial docking, and creating a favorable cooperation environment.
Fernandez Dias mentioned in her speech that the General Directorate of Economic Activities of Portugal and the Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Office of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Portuguese Republic have maintained a good cooperation relationship over the years and have played a positive role in promoting the work of both sides. She believed that the seminar would help to raise the awareness of enterprises from both sides on the advantages of cooperation in the third-party market.
Gu Jun said that Shanghai enterprises have long been carrying out economic and trade cooperation in Portugal based on the principle of mutually beneficial cooperation and win-win situation. Third-party market cooperation, a new model of international cooperation, effectively connects the advantageous production capacity of China and Shanghai, the advanced technology of developed countries and the development needs of developing countries. It is an important way to build greater consensus and achieve open development and shared development.
Zhao Bentang pointed out that the cooperation between Chinese and Portuguese enterprises has gained good economic and social benefits in the local market, while the joint development of third-party markets in Europe, Africa, Latin America and other regions has been fruitful. It is believed that the seminar will further open up the idea of tripartite cooperation, discover more new areas and ways of tripartite cooperation, and promote the cooperation between China and Portugal in third-party markets including other Portuguese-speaking countries.
Miguel Cruz believes that the strengthening of the tripartite cooperation can bring everyone together. It is one of the objectives of the mobilization of the international cooperation activities carried out by the Portuguese Infrastructure Agency on behalf of Portugal.
Paul Vasch said that the cooperation between Chinese and Portuguese companies is becoming closer and there is still room for strengthening this bilateral economic relationship. Strengthening the international development of Portuguese enterprises requires efforts to optimize the corporate structure. It is believed that this seminar will help promote the development of bilateral economic relations and the deepening of relations between enterprises. The Portuguese Chamber of Commerce will be committed to contributing to the successful implementation of this seminar.
Tang Haiyan said that although the current international economic cooperation has been affected by the epidemic, China and Portugal have still carried out relatively fruitful pragmatic cooperation. The important cooperation projects between the two countries in infrastructure, energy, equipment manufacturing and other fields are steadily advancing, laying a good foundation for expanding new space for cooperation in the third-party market. It is hoped that the participants will use the seminar as a platform to share the advanced experience accumulated, discuss the bottlenecks and problems encountered in this field, and jointly cope with the new environment and new challenges.
This seminar is the first bilateral program held by our university for developed countries. It has received great attention and interest from the Ministry of Commerce and the Embassy in Portugal. The seminar will last for 10 days, and 40 officials from the Portuguese Infrastructure Group, the Portuguese-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Portuguese Federation of Business and Services will participate in the training.
Written by: Liang Bo
Photos by: Li Zheng
Reviewed by: Chen Wei
