CPLP: Informal summit of heads of state, government during UN general assembly

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CPLP: Informal summit of heads of state, government during UN general assembly

8:25 CAT | 10 Sep 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only.The member states of the CPLP are Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor. [File photo: Lusa]

The heads of state and government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries are due to meet at an informal summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, a source from the CPLP presidency confirmed to Lusa.

According to a document to which Lusa had access, the São Toméan rotating presidency has already sent invitations to the presidents of the organisation’s member states to take part in this meeting, on 23 September, on the sidelines of the week of high-level debate at the United Nations, which takes place between 23 and 28 September, with other diplomatic sources saying that the question of Guinea-Bissau taking over the leadership of the organisation in 2025 will be one of the items on the agenda.

However, according to the ambassador of São Tomé and Príncipe to the CPLP, the country that holds the rotating presidency of the organisation until 2025, the proposed date of 23 September may not come to pass, because the day of the informal summit “will have to be adjusted according to the agendas of the heads of state”.

Asked about the issues on the agenda for this meeting, Esterline Género said he didn’t know what they were so far, but assured that they wouldn’t have anything to do with the future presidency of the organisation.

An informal meeting of CPLP ministers of foreign affairs and foreign relations is usually held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, but this year the São Toméan Presidency thought it would be important to have an informal summit of heads of state and government from the nine countries, other diplomatic sources said.

The aim, according to the same sources, is to have a definitive decision on the location of the next summit, which will be in the country that will take over the presidency of the organisation.

At the last meeting of heads of state and government, held in São Tomé and Príncipe in August 2023, when this country took over the presidency, it was decided that Guinea-Bissau would be the next member state to take over the leadership, in 2025.

However, given the political situation in that country, the member states will now have to decide on the location of the next summit, which will be in the country that assumes the future presidency of the community for two years.

Earlier this year, the CPLP’s Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Relations confirmed the venue, Guinea-Bissau, and the date of 17 July 2025 for the next summit.

However, according to diplomatic sources, the final decision rests with the heads of state and government. Hence the scheduling of this informal meeting in New York.

The member states of the CPLP are Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.

Source: Lusa