On the occasion of the official visit toChina by Ms. Ana PaulaVitorino, Minister of the Ministry of Oceans and Fishery of Portugal,and at the invitation of the Portuguese Consulate in Shanghai, Party SecretaryWu Jiamin of Shanghai Ocean University (SOU) and delegation attended theactivity of “Sino-Portugal Blue Partnership and the 21st CenturyMaritime Silk Road” in November 2 and held separate talks with the Minister. 10delegates, including Mr. Pereira, Ambassador of Portugal to China, Mr. Lago,Consul General of Shanghai Consulate, attended the meeting. ProfessorRepresentatives from the College of Fishery and Life Science, College of MarineSciences and College of Food Sciences also attended the meeting.
Wu thanked the invitation by the PortugueseConsulate in Shanghai and expressed his gratitude for the special arrangementsfor the meeting and talks between representatives from SOU and the Minister ofPortugal Ministry of Oceans and Fishery. He also reviewed the cooperationbetween our university and the Algarve University in Portugal in the past fiveyears and introduced the new achievements of the two universities in Septemberthis year: the inauguration ceremony of the Sino-Portuguese Symposium on MarineBiology and the Joint Laboratory of Sino-Portuguese Marine Biology was held inSOU. Wu Jiamin hoped that the Minister would promote the cooperation betweenour university and more Portuguese universities and support our university toplay a greater role in the Sino-Portuguese maritime cooperation.
Ana Paula Vitorino said she was very pleased tosee that Shanghai Ocean University and Portugal university have set up a jointlaboratory and introduced the financing plan of the Ministry of Oceans andFishery. The ministry has established a blue fund to boost the scientific research,economic and trade cooperation between maritime-related agencies andenterprises. Ana PaulaVitorino hoped that all cooperative parties could share and support eachother. In particular, she hoped to speed up the process of cooperation amonguniversities with similar objectives and see more cooperation achievements atthe next meeting.
Since April 2012 when Prof. Adelino, Director of theMarine Research Center of the University of the Algarve in Portugal, visitedour university. SOU cooperation with Portugal has been further enhanced in thepast five years. In 2013, SOU and Portugal's Algarve University signed acooperation agreement on oceanographic science research and joint training ofmarine science and technology personnel. In August 2015, Pedro Abreu, Consulof Economic and Business Affairs of the Portuguese Consulate General inShanghai, visited our university and hoped to enhance the cooperation betweenChina and Portugal in the field of Marine Biology through the exchange betweenSOU and the University of Algarve. In December 2016, SOU delegations visitedthe University of Algarve and the University of Azores and conducted in-depthexchanges of ideas on marine science and technology research, cooperation inpersonnel training and other issues. After five and a half years of jointefforts, the Joint Laboratory of Marine Biology of China and Portugal wasinaugurated in SOU in September this year.
Portugal is an important maritime countryin the world as well as an important country under China’s One Belt andOne Road initiative. The State Oceanic Administration has activelyencouraged and supported international exchanges and cooperation betweenChina's relevant scientific research institutes and enterprises and Portugal inthe maritime field.