CPLP: Member states, G7+ fragile states to boost cooperation to speed up vaccination

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

CPLP: Member states, G7+ fragile states to boost cooperation to speed up vaccination

7:00 CAT | 06 Dec 2021

Image: Youtube CPLP

The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) and the G7+, a group of fragile states, announced Friday that they will strengthen cooperation in the field of public health to accelerate vaccination against Covid-19 in their member states.

At the end of a meeting between representatives of the two organisations, at the headquarters of the Lusophone organisation in Lisbon, the executive secretary of the CPLP, Zacarias da Costa, said that several proposals for cooperation “in the south-south format” had been presented, namely “combating the enormous inequalities that exist with regard to the vaccination process” against Covid-19.

In his turn, the secretary-general of the G7+, Timorese Hélder da Costa, said that the group is experiencing a “delicate situation” in the field of public health, noting that there has been “an approach to various pharmaceutical associations and companies to speed up the vaccination process” in its member countries, particularly in the most fragile, where the vaccination rate is very low.

“People do not have access to vaccination, and that is also one of the tasks that we want to develop together with the CPLP,” he stressed.

According to Zacarias da Costa, other forms of cooperation were also discussed, such as the promotion and dissemination of the Portuguese language and political and diplomatic cooperation with organisations such as the United Nations.

“There are several ways of implementing this CPLP – G7+ partnership, the implementation of initiatives of interest, with funding and co-financing, through the CPLP’s Special Fund”, Zacarias da Costa stressed.

At today’s meeting, the CPLP received the credentials of the G7+, which was granted the category of Associate Observer of the CPLP at the 13th Conference of Heads of State and Government held on 17 July, in Luanda, Angola.

The delivery of the letters of credentials of the G7+ was attended by the president of the group, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development of Sierra Leone, Francis Kai Kai, and the Secretary-General, Helder da Costa, who from now on will be the permanent representative of that group of countries in Lisbon.

Zacarias da Costa also noted that the two organisations have three member states in common: Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor and that “several of the G7+ countries have Portuguese-speaking diasporas and have historical, cultural and economic ties with the countries of the CPLP, which is an organisation that promotes peace and solidarity between nations.

“Obviously all these aspects pave the way for an enormous capital of empathy and friendship between our countries that serve as the basis for a vibrant and dynamic relationship of cooperation, which the status of associate observer will allow to materialise,” he added.

Helder da Costa, told Lusa on the sidelines of the meeting, highlighted a number of activity plans in the area of promoting Portuguese, “a language for the dissemination of peace,” adding that, “as Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor are also part of the group, they will work together in the field of political diplomatic concertation between the two institutions.

The official said that they are still discussing with the CPLP “future partnerships in the field of economic development, “namely the promotion of the private sector” in the member states of both organisations, “to promote the economy” of their countries.

Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor are the nine member states of the CPLP, which this year celebrated its 25th anniversary, and has 32 countries and organisations as associated observers.

The G7+ is an international organisation with seven countries that have experienced or are experiencing conflict or particular political fragility.