To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between China and Portugal, His Excellency the President of the Portuguese Republic, Professor Cavaco Silva, paid a State Visit to China during 12th and 18th May, 2014, aiming at strengthening bilateral economic and trade relations and seeking cooperation in terms of research, education and popularization of Portuguese.

On May 16th, President NING Bin was invited to attend the Reception Luncheon held by President Silva, and engaged in conversations with presidents from six Portuguese universities and a dozen Chinese universities. Among them, presidents of University of Minho and University of Coimbra visited BJTU successively.

On May 15th, NING Bin met with the delegation led by Prof. Antonio Cunha, Rector of University of Minho. Both parties exchanged ideas and reached consensus on establishing a joint International Class of Portuguese Major, developing academic cooperation, etc. On the morning of May 16th, in the witness of Mr. XXX, Minister of Education and Science of Portugal, NING Bin and Cunha signed academic cooperation agreement on behalf of both universities. According the agreement, both universities will strengthen cooperation in terms of student exchange, academic research and so on. The signing of the agreement will expand cooperation between renowned Portuguese universities and BJTU, enormously promote the establishment and development of Portuguese major. Vice President ZHANG Xingchen also attended the meeting.

On the afternoon of May 16th, Mr. Joao Silva, Rector of University of Coimbra visited BJTU. NING Bin briefly introduced BJTU in terms of history and development, research platform, and contributions to China high speed railway construction and looked forward to establishing cooperation in the field of Portuguese and Law. Silva introduced University of Coimbra and expected to expand cooperation with our university. Vice President LIU Jun also attended the meeting.