Senior Chinese leader Jia Qinglin on Thursday in Lisbon held talks with Mota Amaral, Portugal's President of Assembly of the Republic, on promoting bilateral cooperation.

Before their talks, Amaral held a ceremony to welcome Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

During their talks, Jia spoke highly of the Sino-Portuguese relationship, saying that China attaches great importance to its ties with Portugal and is willing to further expand and deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields.

He said that China and Portugal have made a lot of achievements in exchanges and cooperation in a variety of fields based on the principle of mutual respect and mutual benefit.

The two countries have conducted extensive exchanges in economy, trade, culture, education, science and technology, he said, adding that they have supported each other and maintained close cooperation at the United Nations and in other international organizations.

The CPPCC and Portugal's Assembly of the Republic have steadfastly maintained friendly exchanges, thus pushing forcefully forward the all-out development of bilateral ties, Jia noted.

He suggested that the two sides further develop a multi-level and multi-channel exchange between their leaders and sub-committees of their respective parliaments, so as to increase mutual understanding.

Amaral said the Portuguese foreign policy is to seek to establish and consolidate friendly cooperative relations with other countries, and China occupies a fairly important position in Portugal' s external relations.

He stressed that as all parties in the Assembly of the Republic want to consolidate and develop ties with China, he believed the Portuguese-Chinese ties will register greater progress in the years to come.

Earlier Thursday, Jia met with Portuguese Minister of Economic Activities and Labor Alvaro Barreto on how to expand trade cooperation between the two countries.

Barreto said that Portugal aspired to raise the level of cooperation between the two sides, especially in the fields of economy and trade.

Jia told Barreto that there is still great potential for cooperation between the two sides, and the two governments should assist their entrepreneurs to make effective exchanges and contacts.

Jia arrived in Portugal Tuesday for a three-day official good-will visit. On Wednesday, Jia and his entourage visited in northern Portugal the Amorim Group, a leading cork producer in the world.