Chinese Ambassador to Portugal Cai Run has said there is no substitute for Macao as a vehicle for Sino-Portuguese exchanges in the fields of education, culture and tourism, the Macao Daily News reports.

The newspaper quotes Mr Cai as saying so on the sidelines of an event put on in Portugal by the government of Macao in an effort to attract more Portuguese to visit the city.

Mr Cai said the governments of Macao and Portugal had close ties which facilitated engagement between Macao and Portugal in particular and Sino-Portuguese engagement in general.

More and more Macao companies have been looking for opportunities to do business with Portugal in recent years, with a view to helping make the Macao economy more diverse, the Macao Daily News quotes the ambassador as saying.