CPLP: Portugal to speed up visa processing to make CPLP mobility work – minister

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CPLP: Portugal to speed up visa processing to make CPLP mobility work – minister

7:09 CAT | 24 Jun 2024

File photo: Lusa

Portugal’s minister of foreign affairs said on Friday that mobility between Angolan and Portuguese citizens is a priority and that Portugal wants to speed up visa processing by sending 45 specialists to consular posts identified as priorities.

Paulo Rangel was speaking to journalists in Luanda after a meeting at the Presidential Palace with the Angolan president, Joao Lourenço, with whom he discussed the visit to Angola of the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, from 23 July and the current “moment of excellence” in bilateral relations.

Regarding Luís Montenegro’s visit, he stressed that it would be economic in nature and that he intended to promote dialogue between Angolan and Portuguese businesspeople in order to strengthen investment in Angola.

“Co-operation is alive and kicking,” stressed the head of Portuguese diplomacy.

Asked about updating immigration policy, Rangel emphasised that neither the law nor the mobility agreement had been changed and that four priorities had been listed, the first being the mobility of CPLP citizens.

“All CPLP citizens have privileged treatment because there is this mobility agreement that we have to take forward, deepen and make work better,” he emphasised.

On the other hand, he recognised that “the granting of visas takes a long time and that there are bottlenecks”, which is why Portugal is going to send 45 specialists to CPLP consulates “to speed up these processes in order to make CPLP mobility effective”.

“Portugal is in dire need of labour and our sister countries must be given priority,” he stressed.

He also said that the Portugal-Angola social security reciprocity agreement is also on the agenda of the bilateral talks he will be holding with his Angolan counterpart, Téte António, emphasising that mobility also involves “making it easy for people to know that in the future, if they stop working or become ill, they will have their social rights”.

Source: Lusa