Mozambique and East Timor are taking part for the first time in Macao Franchise Expo (MFE), the newspaper Jornal Tribuna de Macau reported this week.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa and the online edition of Chinese-state run newspaper People’s Daily signed on Tuesday a co-operation agreement for the future exchange of news content and the launching of joint projects.

Mozambique’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation, Nyeleti Mondlane, will go to the Chinese capital, Beijing, to take part on Friday in a meeting. It is to evaluate the practical implementation so far of plans formed as a result of last year’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the Mozambican Government said on Tuesday in a statement.

Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) signed last week a co-operation agreement with institutions in Mainland China to build a laboratory to develop technology to help handle translation between Chinese, Portuguese and English, local newspaper Macao Daily News reported.

China was the single biggest destination for Angolan exports – most of them in the form of crude oil – in the first quarter of 2016, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported on Monday.

The Chief Executive of Macau, Chui Sai On, will visit Portugal in September, public broadcaster Rádio Macau reported.

Mozambique’s central bank raised last week its key interest rate by 300 basis points (bps), to 17.25 percent, in a bid to curb soaring consumer prices, financial news service Bloomberg reported.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised slightly its economic growth forecast for China in 2016 – to 6.6 percent – in response to the country’s economic reforms, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The Angolan Government has hired four Chinese companies to deliver water supply-related public projects in Luanda Province; worth in total US$214.5 million, Portuguese news agency Lusa reported last week.

Cape Verde’s central bank is mulling the establishment of a Deposit Guarantee Fund to protect retail customers of the country’s banks from any future crisis in that sector, Portuguese newspaper A Bola reported.

Macau’s Talents Development Committee is discussing further partnerships with higher education institutions in Portugal. This is in order to help develop the professional skills of people bilingual in Chinese and Portuguese, the committee said this week in a statement.

China’s Ambassador to Angola, Cui Aimin, said the Chinese Government would assist a greater number of Chinese companies to invest in the development of the Angolan fisheries sector as a way of aiding the economic diversification of the African nation.