Six agreements were signed during a conference on Chinese economic engagement with the Portuguese-speaking world which brought entrepreneurs together in São Tomé e Príncipe this week, the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) says.

IPIM issued a written statement saying the agreements were on cooperation among government departments, dealings among business associations, corporate donations and inter-enterprise cooperation in financial services.

The institute says over 80 business-matching sessions brought together enterprises in the businesses of farming, food, infrastructure, trade, tourism and other services.

Almost 400 people attended the two-day conference, which was arranged jointly by IPIM, the São Tomé e Príncipe Trade Promotion and Investment Agency and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the institute says.

The conference was the 14th in a series attended by over 5,000 Chinese or lusophone businesspeople since the first, held in 2005, and the 15th will be held in Guiné-Bissau next year, IPIM says.