China is studying the creation of a Sino-Lusophone forum for cooperation and prevention of epidemics, the spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced today.
The idea of creating a Sino-Lusophone forum is to reinforce “cooperation in the field of health and prevention of epidemics between China and Portuguese-speaking countries,” explained the spokesman at the ministry’s regular press conference.
On the other hand, Beijing will seek to promote food exports from Portuguese-speaking countries to China, he added.
The same spokesman highlighted the role of the Macau Special Administrative Region in articulating with Portuguese-speaking countries during the pandemic, especially through the Forum for Economic and Commercial Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.
During the pandemic, China has been sending medication and equipment to Portuguese-speaking countries, with which it has also promoted training and sharing experiences on treatment and prevention related to the new coronavirus, with teams on the ground and online conferences.
China established the Macau Special Administrative Region as a platform for economic and trade cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries in 2003, the year in which it created the Macau Forum.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than one million and eighty-seven thousand deaths and more than 38.2 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report made by the news agency France-Presse (AFP).
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
After Europe succeeded China as the center of the pandemic in February, the American continent is now the one with the most confirmed cases and the most deaths.
