China is willing to increase trade and economic co-operation with Portugal in a bid to raise the strategic partnership between the two nations to a new and higher level, said a senior official of the Communist Party of China.

China’s Ambassador to Mozambique, Su Jian, held talks recently in the African nation’s capital, Maputo, regarding support for the industrialisation of that country.

The Prime Minister of East Timor, Rui Maria de Araújo, said the country is implementing the necessary reforms to diversify its economy, in a bid to reduce its dependency on trade partners, and on exports of oil and gas. Mr Araújo made a speech on Wednesday at the European Development Days forum, taking place in Brussels.

Organisations from Brazil attended the International Food, Meat and Aquatic Products Exhibition (FMA) in China this week, aiming to increase Brazilian exports of poultry and pork meat to the Asian nation.

A delegation from the Pan-Pearl River Delta region, organised by the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), will visit Portugal this month to strengthen co-operation ties.

Mozambique’s central bank raised its key interest rate for a third time this year, as a weakening currency led to soaring inflation in the southern African nation.

China’s economy held steady in May despite facing consistent downward pressures, said on Monday Sheng Laiyun, spokesperson of the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics.

China was the biggest trade partner of Angola last year, show data from the Foreign Trade Yearbook published by the Angolan National Statistics Institute.

The number of overnight visitors to Portugal from China jumped 44 percent year-on-year in the first four months of 2016, to more than 37,000, Portuguese newspaper Expresso reported.

China and Mozambique signed an agreement on Monday to provide partial debt relief to the African country, strengthening bilateral relations, Radio Mozambique reported that day.

The Angola Government has awarded 24 projects worth US$1.27 billion to Chinese companies under a new credit line provided by China, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on Monday.

Inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) to China rose 3.8 percent year-on-year to US$54.19 billion in the first five months of 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on Sunday.