The Portuguese Jorge Álvares Foundation will open next month a website to spur cooperation by universities in China and Portugal, Plataforma Macau reports, citing a director of the foundation, Fernanda Ilhéu.

Júlio Jatobá, a Brazilian professor at the University of Macau, believes the website will draw talented people to the Guangdong-Macao Intensive Cooperation Zone on Hengqin Island, adjoining Macao, and so help develop the zone, the weekly newspaper reported on Friday.

The report quotes Mr Jatobá as saying the foundation aims to connect researchers at universities in China and Portugal, prompting cooperation among them.

The website will boost Sino-Portuguese collaboration in various fields, Plataforma Macau says, citing Sara Augusto, a professor at the Macao Polytechnic University Portuguese Language Teaching and Research Centre.