CPLP: Members agree to fight youth unemployment

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CPLP: Members agree to fight youth unemployment

11:25 CAT | 28 Aug 2023

Photo: Twitter / @_CPLP

The Community of Portuguese-Language Countries (CPLP) urged its member states on Sunday at the Sao Tome summit to step up efforts to tackle the “high unemployment rates” among young people and to speed up the implementation of economic cooperation.

In the final declaration approved today at the 14th conference of heads of state and government of the CPLP, which took place in Sao Tome, member states are urged to “intensify efforts to tackle the high unemployment rates among young people, through the development and implementation of cooperation actions that enable the development of national policies and programmes to increase employability, boost capacity building and vocational training in order to facilitate the transition from school to work, and increase synergies between the education and employment sectors”.

At the summit, with the motto “Youth and Sustainability in the CPLP”, the countries “committed to promoting political dialogue, the exchange of experiences and cooperation with a view to raising the community’s achievements in all areas”.

“Reiterating that young people are the guarantors of the CPLP’s sustainable future and that climate change and environmental protection are among their main concerns, they recommended strengthening the sharing of experiences on public policies and multilateral processes for empowering and valorising youth and sustainability in CPLP member states, as well as encouraging the participation of young people at all levels of decision-making and implementation processes,” reads the final declaration.

The CPLP also said that member states “must promote and protect human rights and meet the needs and aspirations of young people, especially those in vulnerable situations”.

The countries also reaffirmed their commitment to “work hard to achieve sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – in a balanced and integrated manner, mobilising the necessary means to implement the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda,” which defines the Sustainable Development Goals.

As a measure aimed at young people, the member states encouraged the creation of youth mobility and exchange programmes in the CPLP, particularly in the fields of education, training, culture, associations and voluntary work, sport and human rights and sustainable development.”

The member states also reiterated their commitment to economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic “to preserve and create decent jobs, income and productive capacity”.

In this regard, they recognised the importance of developing partnerships in the field of promoting trade and investment, employment and social protection.

Regarding the inclusion of Economic Cooperation in the CPLP statutes – which they welcomed – they called for the “swift implementation” of the strategic agenda of this fourth pillar of the community to promote trade and investment, improve financing mechanisms and support for internationalisation, and strengthen competitiveness and industrial property systems, with special attention to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

The countries also welcomed the conclusion of the process to ratify the Mobility Agreement between the member states of the CPLP “as a firm step towards establishing a true community of peoples, paving the way for the movement of people, culture, values, principles and knowledge”.

“They congratulated Portugal, Mozambique and Cabo Verde on the entry into force of amendments to their Foreigners Law to implement the agreement and encouraged all member states to continue to promote its implementation, within the principle of variable flexibility enshrined therein,” the final declaration also said.

Regarding Equatorial Guinea, the most recent country in the organisation, the member states congratulated Malabo on the “abolition of the death penalty, with the entry into force of the new Penal Code in November 2022”.

The abolition of the death penalty – which has not yet been transposed into the Equatoguinean constitution – and the promotion of the Portuguese language were part of the CPLP’s membership roadmap when Equatorial Guinea joined in 2014.

The CPLP, which includes Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Príncipe and Timor-Lest, held its 14th conference of heads of state and government in Sao Tome and Príncipe on Sunday under the slogan “Youth and Sustainability”.

Source: Lusa