Community of Portuguese Language Countries

The Community of Portuguese Language Countries, also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth or Lusophone Community, is an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese is an official language. The CPLP operates as a privileged, multilateral forum for the mutual cooperation of the governments, economies, non-governmental organizations, and peoples of the Lusofonia. The CPLP consists of 9 member states and 34 associate observers, located in Africa, América, Asia, Europe and Oceania, totalling 39 countries and 4 organizations.
The CPLP was founded in 1996, in Lisbon, by Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe, nearly two decades after the beginning of the decolonization of the Portuguese Empire. Following the independence of East Timor in 2002 and the application by Equatorial Guinea in 2014, both of those countries became members of the CPLP. Galicia, Macau, and Uruguay are formally interested in full membership and another 17 countries across the world are formally interested in associate observer status.

History

The idea of a type of international community or political union of Portuguese language countries had been proposed and studied numerous times in history. However, the idea for what would become the CPLP came about in 1983, during a state visit to Cabo Verde by Jaime Gama, Foreign Minister of Portugal, when he first proposed a biennial summit of heads of state and government of Lusophone countries of the world and the idea of regular meetings between ministerial counterparts of the member states.
The Community of Portuguese Language Countries was officially founded on 17 July 1996 at the 1st CPLP Heads of State and Government Summit, in Lisbon, Portugal.
In 2005, during a meeting in Luanda, the ministers of culture of the member states declared the 05 May as the Lusophone Culture Day.
Through successive enlargements, the Union has grown from the seven founding states—Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe—to the current nine, with the self-determination of Timor-Leste in 2002 and the accession of Equatorial Guinea in 2014 at the 10th CPLP Summit in Dili, Timor-Leste with the issuance of the Dili Declaration.
The community has grown beyond its mission in fostering cultural ties between the Portuguese language countries into facilitating trade and political cooperation between the Lusophone countries of the world, with the CPLP is the fourth-largest producer of oil in the world and its citizens totalling more than 270 million people.
In 2017, in Brasília, the nine-member states agreed to enlarge cooperation in matters of the seas, tourism, economy and more ambitious defense and cooperation mechanisms. More rights to the observer states were also approved, which Argentina planned to join.

Structure

The CPLP's guidelines and priorities are established by a biannual Conference of Heads of State and Government and the Organization's plan of action is approved by the Council of Foreign Ministers, which meets every year. Special summits can be requested at any time by 2/3 of the member states, usually for the purpose of pressing matters or incidents at the moment. There are also monthly meetings of the Permanent Steering Committee that follow specific initiatives and projects.
The headquarters of the CPLP is in Penafiel Palace in Lisbon, Portugal, but the organization maintains dedicated bureaus in all of the foreign ministries of the CPLP member states.
The CPLP is financed by its member states.

Mission

CPLP is a multilateral forum created to deepen cultural, economic, and political cooperation among the Lusophone nations of the world. The prime objectives of the CPLP are:

Promotion and dissemination of the Portuguese language
Political and diplomatic cooperation between the member states of the CPLP
Cooperation in all areas, including education, health, science and technology, defense, agriculture, public administration, communications, justice, public safety, culture, sports and media
Executive Secretary

The Executive Secretary of the CPLP is the executive head and highest representative of the CPLP. The Executive Secretary is charged with leading the Executive Secretariat, the CPLP's executive branch responsible for creating and implementing the CPLP's agenda of projects and initiatives. The Executive Secretary, who must be a high-ranking diplomat or politician from one of the member states, is elected for a mandate of two years at the biennial CPLP Summit, and can be reelected once to a second term. The Executive Secretariat is headquartered at Penafiel Palace in Lisbon, Portugal.

Name

Portrait

Country

Start

End

Background

Marcolino José Carlos Moco

AngolaIll|Dulce Maria Pereira|pt|Dulce Pereira

Permanent Consultative Committee

Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers is made up of the ministers of Foreign Affairs of the nine Member States. The powers of the Council of Ministers are:

Coordinate CPLP activities;
Supervise the functioning and development of CPLP;
Approve the CPLP budget;
Make recommendations to the Conference of Heads of State and Government on matters of general policy, as well as the efficient and harmonious functioning and development of the CPLP;
To recommend to the Conference of Heads of State the candidates for the positions of Executive Secretary and Deputy Executive Secretary;
Convene conferences and other meetings with a view to promoting the objectives and programs of the CPLP; Carry out other tasks entrusted to it by the Conference of Heads of State and Government.

The Council of Ministers elects, from among its members, a President on a rotating basis and for a term of two years. The Council of Ministers ordinarily meets once a year and, extraordinarily, when requested by two-thirds of the member states.
The Council of Ministers reports to the Conference of Heads of State and Government, to which it must present its reports. Decisions by the Council of Ministers are taken by consensus.

Director General

The Executive Secretary is assisted in his duties by the Director General. The Statutes establish, since the Summit of Bissau in 2006, the existence of a Director General, and the position of Deputy Executive Secretary ceased with his appointment.
The Director General is recruited from among the nationals of the Member States, through public examination, for a period of three years, renewable for an equal period. The Director General is responsible, under the guidance of the Executive Secretary, for the day-to-day management, financial planning and execution, preparation, coordination and guidance of the meetings and projects activated by the Executive Secretariat. The current director general of CPLP is Armindo Brito Fernandes, from São Tomé and Príncipe, who took office on 10 February 2020.

Name

Portrait

Country

Start

End

Hélder Vaz Lopes

Guinea-Bissau

Goodwill Ambassadors

At the VI Summit of CPLP Heads of State and Government the first CPLP Goodwill Ambassadors were also appointed, who, according to the approved regulation, are appointed for a two-year term and must be personalities of merit. recognized and distinguished themselves in promoting the values defended by the CPLP.
The chosen personalities were three former Heads of State, Jorge Sampaio, José Sarney and Joaquim Chissano. A prime minister and a minister, Fernando Van-Dunen and Albertino Bragança ; the musician Martinho da Vila and Gustavo Vaz da Conceição, president of the Angolan Basketball Federation and member of the Angola Olympic Committee.
At the XV Council of Ministers, on 22 July 2010, in Luanda, Ambassador Luís Fonseca, former CPLP Executive Secretary, was appointed.

Defense component

In 2016, CPLP revised its cooperation protocol in defense, affirming the organization in the promotion of peace and security.
The 2017 Exercício Felino military exercise taking place in Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras, Resende, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aims for the increased interoperability of the armed forces of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and East Timor. The first phase of the exercise, known as Carta took place in Cape Verde in 2016, in which the operation was planned and executed using computer networks as a war game. The Exercício Felino was established in the year 2000.

''CPLP Mobility''

The 2021 Summit in Luanda saw the creation of the CPLP Mobility, a system that seeks to facilitate the entry and permanence of citizens of one country in another.

CPLP Youth Forum

The Youth Forum of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries is the Community instance responsible for the protection and promotion of the rights of youth internationally. Created in 1997, its objective is to bring together representative platforms of civil society youth organizations in the Member States to strengthen the protagonism and participation of youth in the development of their countries and the world.
For its intervention, the Conference instituted as anchor activities the CPLP Sports Games and the CPLP Young Creators Biennial, to be held interpolated each year. In addition to these activities, sectorial Action Plans for two years are instituted, which seek to meet the priorities identified for the period in question.
As part of its action, the Conference establishes partnerships with national or international organizations for activities in areas of clear interest to members. Its current president is Bissau-Guinean Aissatu Forbs Djaló.