A seminar for interpreters of Portuguese and spoken Chinese is taking place in Macao, the Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) has announced.

MPI issued a written statement saying it jointly arranged the Seventh Meeting Interpretation Seminar with the Directorate-General for Interpretation of the European Commission. The seminar began on July 10 and will end on July 21.

The institute says the event is being attended by over a dozen teachers of Portuguese and interpreters from universities in Mainland China and Macao, and from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Demand for speakers of Portuguese has been growing in Mainland China in recent years, and the number of Mainland Chinese universities offering degrees in Portuguese has risen to 30 or more from just three in 2003, the statement quotes MPI Vice-President Marcus Im Sio Kei as saying.