Two new Confucius Institute centres opened last week in Portugal and Brazil respectively.

China’s Confucius Institute is an educational and cultural exchange organisation under an official Chinese body called the Office of Chinese Language Council International. Its goals are to teach Mandarin and promote Chinese culture internationally.

The University of Aveiro, in Aveiro, Portugal, on Friday launched that country’s third Confucius Institute centre. China’s Ambassador to Portugal Huang Songfu attended the event.

Portuguese Education Minister Nuno Crato said during the ceremony that the country’s administration is considering offering optional Mandarin classes as a foreign language to primary and high school students. He added that cultural exchanges could have a positive spillover effect on economic and trade co-operation between China and Portugal.

The Confucius Institute centre at the University of Aveiro is a partnership with Dalian University of Foreign Languages.

On Wednesday in Brazil, the country’s eighth Confucius Institute centre opened at the State University of Campinas. It is a co-operation between the Beijing Jiaotong University and the University of Campinas.

At the opening ceremony, Ning Bin, President of the Beijing Jiaotong University, said: “This partnership will not only aim for teaching Chinese language, but also for the exchange of each other’s teachers and students, and technical cooperation in the fields of economy, logistics and rail transportation.”

Shi Zequn, Cultural Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Brazil, told the China Daily newspaper that two more Confucius Institute centres would soon be established in Brazil.