CHINESE President Hu Jintao said yesterday his country will back Portugal's efforts to deal with the world financialcrisis.

"We are willing to take concrete measures to help Portugal cope with the global financialcrisis," Hu said after meeting Prime Minister Jose Socrates in Lisbon.

The two signed several cooperation treaties in areas such as financial services, logistics, renewable energy and tourism, and agreed to work to double their bilateral trade by 2015.

Hu also said he will encourage Chinese companies to invest in Portugal, while China encouraged Portuguese firms to sell more goods in the world's most populous country.

In an example of potentialmutualinvestment, Portugal's largest company and utility EDP said China Power Holding International (CPI), with which it signed an agreement for a potentialpartnership, had expressed interest in buying a stake in the Portuguese company.

"Given the strategic significance the cooperationpartnership may have, CPI has manifested its interest in a potential entry into EDP's capital," EDP said in a statement.

Investor concerns that Portugal may fail to rein in its budgetdeficit and debt have caused its debt premiums to spike this year, raising the spectre of a Greek-style bailout.

But the minority Socialist government maintains it will meet the budgetdeficit target of 7.3 percent of GDP this year and 4.6 percent next year, and is looking for increased exports so as not to slide into a new recession next year.

The Chinese president left for home yesterday afternoon after his two-day state visit to Portugal.

• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
• willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
• minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
• cooperation [kəu,ɔpə´reiʃən] n.合作；协作 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• encourage [in´kʌridʒ] vt.鼓励；怂勇；促进 (初中英语单词)
• invest [in´vest] v.投资；授予 (初中英语单词)
• investment [in´vestmənt] n.投资；(时间等)投入 (初中英语单词)
• international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的，世界的 (初中英语单词)
• agreement [ə´gri:mənt] n.同意；一致；协议 (初中英语单词)
• crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中英语单词)
• concrete [´kɔŋkri:t] a.具体的 n.混凝土 (高中英语单词)
• portugal [´pɔ:tjugəl] n.葡萄牙 (高中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
• mutual [´mju:tʃuəl] a.相互的；共同的 (高中英语单词)
• partnership [´pɑ:tnəʃip] n.合伙关系 (高中英语单词)
• significance [sig´nifikəns] n.意义；重要性 (高中英语单词)
• budget [´bʌdʒit] n.&vi.(做)预算；安排 (高中英语单词)
• minority [mai´nɔriti] n.少数(民族)；未成年 (高中英语单词)
• socialist [´səuʃəlist] n.社会主义者 (高中英语单词)
• portuguese [,pɔ:tʃu´gi:z] a.葡萄牙的 n.葡萄牙人 (英语四级单词)
• utility [ju:´tiliti] n.有用 a.有各种用途的 (英语四级单词)
• socrates [´sɔkrəti:z] n.苏格拉底 (英语六级单词)
• populous [´pɔpjuləs] a.人口稠密的；众多的 (英语六级单词)
• holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
• investor [in´vestə] n.投资者 (英语六级单词)
• deficit [´defisit] n.缺乏，赤字，亏空 (英语六级单词)