The Macao Government and the European Commission (EC) have signed a memorandum of understanding to train translators and interpreters capable of working in Chinese and Portuguese, local newspaper Jornal Tribuna de Macau reported on Friday.

According to the newspaper, the aim of the new three-year programme is to promote the “One Centre, One Platform” policy in Macao, as well as to contribute to the Macao Government’s goal to train greater numbers of qualified bilingual professionals capable of working as translators.

The Director of Macao’s Administration and Public Works Bureau, Kou Peng Kuan, and the EC’s Director-General of Interpretation, Carlos Alegria, signed the agreement on Thursday in Macao.

It includes the organisation of three, two-year, training courses. Each course will receive a maximum of 25 students.

The newspaper said the Shanghai International Studies University would probably be invited to teach the courses.