Frank-Jürgen Richter , President of Horasis (www.horasis.org) and Fernando Costa Freire , President of Edeluc (www. edeluc.com) announced today that they hosted a luncheon for Portugese Prime Minister José Socrates with Chinese entrepreneurs in Beijing on 31 January. Prime Minister Socrates who was accompanied by a delegation of Portugese business owners made an official visit to China on that day. Socrates' visit is being made at the invitation of the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, within the scope of the strategic global partnership between Portugal and China .

The group of Chinese entrepreneurs was led by Ning Gaoning , Chairman, COFCO and Li Shufu , Chairman, Geely.

The aim of the luncheon meeting was

• to conceptualize growth strategies within the Sino-European framework
• to discuss ways for Chinese firms to establish operations in Europe
• to set priorities for action taking into consideration a greater presence of Portuguese companies in the Chinese market
• to debate Portugal 's role as springboard for Chinese firms to invest in Africa and South America

One of Portugal 's priorities when it takes over the rotating six month European Union presidency in July 2007 will be on enhancing the burgeoning Sino-European economic relationship.

Horasis is a global visions community committed to enact visions for a sustainable future. (http://www.horasis.org)