On Dec. 18, 2018, Israel Esteves Saraiva，Portuguese Consul General in Shanghai, visited Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) to give lectures to teachers and students from SISU’s Portuguese language program. Xu Yixing, deputy dean of School of European and Latin American Studies and director of the Portuguese Language Department, greeted him.
In the lecture, Isava introduced the prospects and future of Portuguese and expressed his outlook for China-Portugal relations. He pointed out that Portuguese, as one of the few widely distributed languages in the world, is the language of the future. Portugal would take the 40th anniversary of the establishment of China-Portugal diplomatic ties as a new historical starting point to promote economic cooperation and cultural exchanges with China. He said that President Xi Jinping’s previous state visit to Portugal had produced fruitful results. Portugal supports the Belt and Road Initiative and is willing to become the hub of the Initiative in Europe. Portuguese majors of SISU, according to him, as talents of Portuguese in the future, shoulder the mission of connecting China and Portuguese-speaking countries. He hoped that they could make greater efforts to promote friendly exchanges between China and Portugal.
The lecture was held in a friendly and warm atmosphere. Isawa had a cordial conversation with Portuguese majors and spoke highly of the development of SISU’s Portuguese language program. He said that he would continue to actively promote exchanges and cooperation between universities in China and those in Portugal.
