Among 40 institutions of higher education belonging to a new alliance of academic libraries in Macao and the lusophone world are five universities in Brazil, according to one of them, the Federal University of Minas Gerais.

The university issued a written statement identifying the four other Brazilian members as the University of São Paulo, the State University of Campinas, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

Universities in Angola, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Portugal, Timor-Leste and mainland China also belong, the Federal University of Minas Gerais says.

Its statement, issued on Monday, quotes Aziz Tuffi Saliba, its director of international relations, as saying the Macao-led alliance will give academics access to a greater pool of materials written in Portuguese, and to a wider range of readers of the results of their research.

Materials written in Chinese and Portuguese are already being shared online, the Federal University of Minas Gerais says.