CPLP: Portugal president sees ‘Sal spirit’ inspiring progress on free movement

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CPLP: Portugal president sees ‘Sal spirit’ inspiring progress on free movement

11:04 CAT | 17 Jul 2018

Photo: Lusa

Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said on arriving on the island of Sal, Cape Verde, for a summit of the Community of Portuguese-Language Countries (CPLP) that he was convinced that the “Sal spirit” would help in “inspiring” progress on free movement.

Speaking at the hotel in Santa Maria where the summit is to take place, on his arrival at 8.40pm local time on Monday (10.40pm Lisbon time), de Sousa highlighted the way the CPLP has increasingly affirmed itself in recent years.

As examples he cited the election of António Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, as secretary-general of the United Nations and of António Vitorino, a former Guterres minister, as director-general of the International Organisation for Migrations(OIM).

“There is an international situation [that is] favourable to the role of the community,” de Sousa said, stressing the importance of the subjects on the agenda for the summit, which starts on Tuesday, and of Cape Verde’s stint presiding over the CPLP, which begins in Sal with the themes ‘Culture, People and Oceans’.

“These are such important themes and, present as it is on all continents, the community has a unique room for manoeuvre in the coming years,” he said. “The spirit of Sal will be very inspiring.”

He noted that the idea of freedom of movement, which Portugal and Cape Verde have championed, has won ever more supporters.

“I hope that more steps are taken in terms of movement in the CPLP,” he said.

Asked for his assessment of the degree of implementation on the part of Equatorial Guinea, the CPLP’s most recent member, of the roadmap it agreed when it joined – including the abolition of the death penalty in the country, which has not taken place – de Sousa declined to comment for reasons of “good manners”, saying that the subject might be discussed in one or other of the “various meetings” at the summit.

Source: Lusa