A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) called on Wednesday fordeepening cooperation with Portugal in cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

What makes a city "cool"? If it means being loaded with atmosphere, charm, great food and nightlife, yet ignored by the bulk of travelers, then Lisbon deserves consideration as Europe's coolest capital. Here's why.

In 2008, 1.9 million Portuguese workers in the private sector were covered by collective bargaining agreements. Last year, the number was down to 300,000. Spain has eased restrictions on collective layoffs and unfair dismissal, and softened limits on extending temporary work, allowing workers to be kept on fixed-term contracts for up to four years. Ireland and Portugal have frozen the minimum wage, while Greece has cut it by nearly a fourth. This is what is known in Europe as “internal devaluation.”

As the world marks the 500 year anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese people to China, a wave of Chinese investment and capital is pouring into Portugal. Portugal was the first European power to establish a permanent settlement in China and was the last to leave when it returned Macau to Beijing in 1999.

The trade between Portugal and Saudi Arabia is still low, but last year’s results showed a 43 percent growth of Portuguese exports to the Kingdom, Portugal’s Minister of Health Paulo Moita de Maceda has said. “Portugal remains committed to free-trade agreement between the European Union and the GCC,” the minister told Arab News.

Today, the USC Center on Public Diplomacy released a Media Monitor Report on "Expo Shanghai 2010 - Flaunting Nations' Beauty through the Practice of Nation Branding".

Portugal is more pro-multilateral, emphasizing soft power and persuasion rather than picking fights, argued Jez Littlewood, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University. This, he argues, is actually similar to the position Canada used to take when it sat on the council.

The top Portuguese diplomat in Turkey has said the two countries could benefit from sharing best business practices which each has developed over many years and help each other out in markets where they have developed competitive leads.