Dalian University of Foreign Languages, in northern China, and the Federal University of Paraíba, or UFPB, in northeastern Brazil, have agreed to help facilitate Sino-Brazilian academic exchanges, the Chinese university says.

Dalian University of Foreign Languages Rector Liu Hong and UFPB Rector Valdiney Gouveia signed the agreement in a ceremony held online this week, which was attended by Chinese Consul-General in Recife Yan Yuqing, according to a written statement issued by Ms Liu’s university.

The statement quotes Ms Liu as saying Dalian University of Foreign Languages has looked into making exchanges of staff and students with many institutions of tertiary education in Brazil, Portugal and Macao for the purposes of teacher training and scientific research, and has collaborated in setting up branches of the Confucius Institute at the University of Brasília and at the University of Aveiro in Portugal.

The signatory universities can turn out people qualified to make practical contributions to Sino-Brazilian cooperative efforts, the Dalian University of Foreign Languages statement quotes Mr Gouveia as saying.