Portugal may have a role to play as the Atlantic partner of the two initiatives of the Silk Road, which provide for major investments in infrastructure, the Chinese ambassador to Portugal said recently in Lisbon.

China recently presented the “Economic Belt of the Silk Road and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road” to the international community, the so-called One Belt and One Road, which is intended to boost cooperation between Asia and Europe in construction of infrastructure, transport, investment, trade and culture.

Ambassador Huang Songfu, who was speaking at the opening session of the Lisbon Conference in 2015 Portugal/China, said he believed, “Portugal could become the centre of the Maritime Road of the Atlantic,” playing a role that is “essential for implementing One Belt and One Road.”

The ambassador invited Portugal to “seize this opportunity and to explore together with China the possibility of cooperation,” thus raising the comprehensive strategic partnership and Sino-Portuguese cooperation to “a new level,” according to bilingual newspaper Diário de Todos.

The ambassador described the conference held in Lisbon’s City Hall as another milestone in deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership between Portugal and China.

The next Portugal/China conference, organised by the Confucius Institute at the University of Lisbon, will be held in 2016 in Beijing at the premises of the Institute of Economics and World Policies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. (macauhub/CN/PT)