Increasing numbers of Chinese in Macao are studying the Portuguese language, Lusa says, citing International Lusophone Markets Business Association President Eduardo Ambrósio.

The Portuguese news agency reported last Friday that the association had begun taking the day before applications to attend a course in business Portuguese, the first being offered this year by the association and the Macau Centre for Productivity and Technology Transfer.

The report quotes Mr Ambrósio as saying such courses attract people in the businesses of finance and international trade, along with lawyers and young people just out of university.

The learners wish to use Portuguese in doing business with lusophone countries, some meaning to take opportunities for trade with Angola, Brazil, Mozambique and Portugal, Lusa quotes Mr Ambrósio as saying.

Last August a newspaper, the Macao Daily, citing International Lusophone Markets Business Association Secretary-General Latonya Leong Wai Meng, reported that in the first seven months of last year about 200 people had enrolled for courses in Portuguese put on by the association.