Senior Chinese official Guo Shengkun on Friday stressed the importance of raising the level of cooperation on law enforcement and security with Portugal.

Guo is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee.

In meeting with acting Portuguese Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Augusto Santos Silva, Guo said that the exchange of visits by leaders of the two countries within half a year reflects the high level of China-Portugal relations and injects new impetus into the development of bilateral ties.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries. China is willing to take the opportunity to work together with Portugal to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, Guo said.

China, Guo said, is also ready to deepen cooperation in economy and trade, education, science and technology as well as the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Guo said the two sides should strengthen communication and coordination under the framework of China-European Union (EU) cooperation and multilateral institutions to promote the long-term healthy and stable development of China-EU relations, and jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade.

Guo also said that the cooperation on law enforcement and security is an important part of the relationship between the two countries, stressing the need to establish a normalized cooperation mechanism to continuously promote the level of cooperation on the law enforcement, security and anti-terrorism to meet the demand of increasing trade and personnel exchanges, so as to make contributions to the development of China-Portugal comprehensive strategic partnership.

As acting prime minister, Silva welcomed Guo's visit and highly praised the fruitful results of the exchanges and cooperation between Portugal and China in various fields.

Silva said Portugal is willing to work together with China to continue to tap the potential for pragmatic cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, law enforcement and security, strengthen coordination in international affairs, and promote the continuous development of Europe-China and Portugal-China relations

Silva also said that his country supports and is willing to actively participate in the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative.

During the visit, Guo also held talks with head of the Portuguese law enforcement and security departments.