CPLP: Sao Tome diplomat is new director of Portuguese-language community

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CPLP: Sao Tome diplomat is new director of Portuguese-language community

10:45 CAT | 09 Jan 2020

[Photo file: Social Media]

Sao Tome diplomat Armindo Brito Fernandes will be the new director of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), taking office in February, announced the embassy of Sao Tome and Principe in Portugal on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Sao Tome and Principe Embassy considered Armindo Brito’s choice “a gain of San Tomean diplomacy” that allows the country to be “represented at a prominent level” in the organization.

The choice of the new Director of the CPLP is the result of a competition launched by the organisation to which 132 candidates applied, according to the information provided by the São Tomé and Príncipe diplomacy.

A first evaluation resulted in a ‘short list’ representing the member countries, composed of 10 candidates: Angola – 1 candidate; Brazil – 1 candidate; Cape Verde – 1 candidate; Portugal/Cape Verde (dual nationality) – 2 candidates; Guinea Bissau – 1 candidate; Mozambique – 1 candidate; Portugal – 2 candidates; São Tomé e Príncipe – 1 candidate.

After interviews with the 10 candidates, the diplomat from São Tomé e Príncipe and the candidate from Mozambique were selected as finalists, and the choice ended with Armindo Brito Fernandes, 58 years old, graduated in Law with a specialization in International Law from the University of Kiev, Ukraine.

Ambassador in the diplomatic service of Sao Tome and Principe, Armindo Brito Fernandes has been coordinating and managing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities of Sao Tome and Principe since 2013 with responsibilities in the area of the European Development Fund.

Previously, he served as Secretary General and Director of International Political and Economic Affairs in the same ministry.

As a diplomat, he was ambassador to Angola, in charge of business in Belgium and head of Sao Tome and Principe’s diplomatic mission to the European Union.

Armindo Brito Fernandes is expected to take office in February for a three-year term.

Source: Lusa