CPLP: Associate observers now number 32 after US, 12 others approved at summit

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CPLP: Associate observers now number 32 after US, 12 others approved at summit

6:57 CAT | 19 Jul 2021

Photo: Lusa

The Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) has 13 new associated observers, after the status was assigned to 13 applicant countries and international organisations at a summit in Luanda at the weekend.

According to a resolution adopted at the 13th Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, held on Saturday in Luanda, the following countries were granted the category of associate observer: Canada, Qatar, US, Ireland, Spain, India, Ivory Coast, Peru, Hellenic Republic [Greece] and Romania. Among organisations, the Ibero-American Conference, the G7+ . and the European Organisation for Public Law (OEDP/EPLO).

The CPLP said that the attribution of this status was justified by the “commitment taken on by the candidate entities with the sharing of the principles and objectives of the CPLP, as well as the interest shown in establishing a partnership within the political diplomatic concertation, in the various areas of cooperation and in the promotion and dissemination of the Portuguese language.”

With these 13 new associate observers, to add to the 19 that existed before the summit, the CPLP now has a total of 32 countries and organisations in this category.

Paraguay had also been announced as a candidate, but according to a diplomatic source from the CPLP it did not conclude the process in time.

The categories of Associate Observer and Consultative Observer were established in 2005. According to the regulations, states wishing to acquire the former category must share the CPLP’s guiding principles, as regards the promotion of democratic practices, good governance and respect for human rights, and pursue, through their own programmes, objectives identical to those of the organisation, even if they do not immediately meet the necessary conditions to be full members of the CPLP.

Applications should be submitted to the CPLP’s Executive Secretariat and, after appreciation by the Permanent Concertation Committee, are forwarded to the Council of Ministers – the meeting of CPLP member states’ foreign ministers, which is then to recommend the final decision to be taken by the Conference of Heads of State and Government.

Also according to the statutes, associate observers may then participate, without the right to vote, in summits, as well as in the Council of Ministers, gaining access to relevant non-confidential documentation. They may also speak at meetings, if this is duly authorised.

Recently, the CPLP decided to begin revising these regulations, with the aim of allowing associate observers to play a more active role in the organisation’s aid projects, but no consensus has yet been reached among all member states.

Another resolution approved at Saturday’s summit in Luanda, assigns the category of CPLP Consultative Observer to the following entities: Association of Teachers of Portuguese in Galicia (DPG), ProCult – Angolan Organisation for Incentives to Private Investment in the Culture Sector, Association of Pharmacists of Portuguese-Language Countries (AFPLP), Federation of Portuguese-Speaking Lawyers (FALP) and the City of Lisbon Foundation.

Consultative observers, of which there are now more than 100, are civil society organisations that may develop joint projects with the CPLP.

Mozambique’s Leonardo Simão appointed CPLP Goodwill Ambassador

Another resolution approved at the Luanda summit concerns the approval of new CPLP Goodwill Ambassadors.

Among those appointed for a four-year mandate, renewable for a further four years, were Leonardo Santos Simão, a former foreign minister of Mozambique, for the area of political and diplomatic concertation, and Filipe Silvino de Pina Zau, a university professor and researcher in Angola, for the Portuguese language area.

Two leading athletes from Portugal – Olympic triple-jump champion Nelson Évora, and another triple-jump athlete, Patrícia Mamona, who this year won the gold medal at the indoor European Athletics Championships, are the ambassadors for the areas of youth, sport and gender equality.

The role of CPLP Goodwill Ambassador is to “widely promote the objectives and disseminate the activities of the CPLP.”

The main developments at the 13th Conference of Heads of State and Government, chaired by Angola, were the signing of an agreement on free movement and the declaration of a new priority: strengthening economic relations.

The CPLP Conference of Heads of State and Government is the community’s maximum organ. It ordinarily meets every two years and is responsible for defining and guiding its general policy and strategies.

The nine CPLP members are Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Sao Tome and Principe.

Source: Lusa