The 'Community of Portuguese Language Countries' (,
pron. (
EP), (
BP); abbreviated to 'CPLP') is a forum for friendship among
lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) nations where Portuguese is an official language. The Portuguese-speaking countries are home to more than 223 million people located across the globe. The CPLP nations have a combined area of about 10,772,000 km², which is larger than
Canada.
The formation and member states
The CPLP was formed in
1996 with seven countries:
Portugal,
Brazil, a former colony in
South America, and five former colonies in
Africa —
Angola,
Cape Verde,
Guinea-Bissau,
Mozambique, and
São Tomé and Príncipe.
East Timor joined the community in
2002 after regaining independence from
Indonesia.
The CPLP is a bloc in the process of construction and the societies of the eight member nations have little knowledge of each other. One of the unique features of the CPLP is that its members are linked by a common language and shared cultural features, which form a bridge among countries separated by great distances and on different continents.
In 2005, during a meeting in
Luanda, the ministers of culture of the eight countries declared the
May 5th as the
Lusophone Culture Day (''Dia da Cultura Lusófona'' in Portuguese).
In July 2006, during the
Bissau summit,
Equatorial Guinea and
Mauritius were admitted as Associate Observers
[1] along with 17 International associations and organizations considered as Consultative Observers.
Members
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East Timor
Associate Observers
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When the CPLP was formed,
Equatorial Guinea asked for observer status.
Equatorial Guinea was a former Portuguese colony until the 18th century and has some territories where
Portuguese-based creole languages are spoken and cultural connections with
São Tomé and Príncipe and
Portugal are felt. Also, the country has recently cooperated with Portuguese-speaking African countries and
Brazil at an educational level. At the CPLP summit of July 2004, in
São Tomé and Príncipe, the member states agreed to change the statutes of the community to accept states as associate observers.
Mauritius, which was unknown to
Europeans until the Portuguese sailed there and has strong connections with
Mozambique, also obtained associate observer status in 2006.
Morocco also became interested in getting observer status, but
Macao is not able to.
The importance of the CPLP
Flags of the member states of the
CPLP countries.
The Portuguese-speaking countries are home to more than 223 million people located across the globe but having similar cultures and a shared history. The CPLP nations have a combined area of about 10,742,000 km², which is larger than
Canada.
Since its formation, the CPLP has helped to solve problems in São Tomé and Príncipe and in Guinea-Bissau, because of
coups d'etat in those countries. These two problems were solved, and in fact, have helped these two countries to take economic reforms (in the case of São Tomé) and democratic ones (in the case of Guinea-Bissau).
The leaders of the CPLP believe that peace in Angola and Mozambique as well as East Timor's independence will favour the further development of the CPLP and a strengthening of multilateral cooperation.
Since many children in rural areas of Lusophone Africa and East Timor are out-of-school youth, the education officials in these regions seek help from Portugal and Brazil to increase the education to spread Portuguese fluency (like establishing
Instituto Camões language center branches in main cities and rural towns), as Portuguese is becoming one of the main languages in
Southern Africa, where it is also taught in
Namibia and
South Africa.
In many developing world, Portuguese-speaking nations, Portuguese is the language of Government and Commerce which means that Portuguese speaking people from African nations can work and communicate with others in different parts of the world, especially in Portugal and Brazil, where the economies are stronger. Many leaders of Portuguese speaking nations in Africa are fearful that language standards do not meet the fluency required and are therefore making it compulsory in schools so that a higher degree of fluency is achieved and young Africans will be able to speak a world language that will help them later in life.
The CPLP System
The Organization’s 'Executive Secretariat' is responsible for designing and implementing the CPLP's projects and initiatives. It is located in
Lisbon,
Portugal. The Executive Secretary has a two-year mandate, and can be re-elected only once.
The CPLP's guidelines and priorities are established by biannual 'Conference of Heads of State' and the Organization’s plan of action is approved by the Council of Foreign Ministers, which meets every year.
There are also monthly meetings of the 'Permanent Steering Committee' that follow specific initiatives and projects.
The CPLP is mainly financed by its eight member states.
The CPLP flag has now eight wings, not seven, to reflect East Timor's membership.
Executive Secretaries
Main initiatives
★ CPLP's HIV-Aids Programme – designed to help the 5 African member states
★ Centre for the Development of Entrepreneurial Skills – being established in
Luanda,
Angola
★ Centre for the Development of Public Administration – being established in
Maputo,
Mozambique
★ Centre for East-Timorese Official Languages
★ Conference on Malaria – to be held in
São Tomé and Príncipe
★ Portuguese Language Census
★ Digital School and University
★ Electoral Mission to
Guinea-Bissau (
East Timor’s Foreign Minister, the Nobel Prize laureate, José Ramos-Horta is CPLP's Representative to the Electoral Process)
★ Emergency Project for the Support of Institution Rebuilding in Guinea-Bissau
★ Rebuilding East Timor’s Justice and Public Administration
★ Combating Poverty and Starvation
★ "Felino" manoeuvres - annual combined manoeuvres of the
Armed Forces of CPLP's countries
★ The CPLP Movie festival
Free Movement of People
The eight Portuguese-speaking nations signed agreements to facilitate the cross-border circulation of their citizens, including multiple-entry visas for businesspeople and others who travel frequently, a streamlining of the requisites and fees paid for short visits, and the right to medical treatment and residency permits for all CPLP citizens in every one of the member countries.
However, a proposal for the adoption of common citizenship failed because Angola and Mozambique opposed. The statute, which is already in force between Brazil and Portugal, would provide equal civil and political rights for the citizens of any CPLP nation. However, one of the main obstacles to this proposal is the fear of large scale immigration to Portugal, a member state of the
European Union. Free movement among CPLP countries could jeopardize the duties of Portugal under the EU Treaties. In the early 1990s, there was a significant amount of migration from Brazil to Portugal, which resulted in the other EU member states pressuring Portugal to tighten its borders with Brazil (largely because borders within the EU were being dismantled at this time with the introduction of the
Schengen area), which caused a short diplomatic spat between the two lusophone nations.
In 2005, Portugal created a special corridor and services in its Lisbon airport for the travellers from the other CPLP nations, as well as the one that exists for the EU citizens. This corridor was agreed upon during the CPLP summit of July 2002 held in
Brasília, and serves only to stop migration to Portugal. In it, citizens of CPLP nations are held for minutes for a detailed questioning of their travel plans while the line for EU citizens flows unimpeded.
Galicia
Some Galicians want the
autonomous region of
Galicia in
Spain to take part in this union, because their language,
Galician, is closely related to Portuguese (in fact many consider one to be a dialect of the other). The two languages have a common origin in Galicia and northern Portugal. East Timor was once in a similar situation in regards to the CPLP. However, before independence East Timor had the status of Observer, even though the
exiled government of East Timor had tried to gain full member status.
References
1. CPLP Associate Observers in CPLP Official website
See also
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Lusophone music
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Lusophony Games
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Lusitanic
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Francophonie
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Commonwealth of Nations
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Latin Union
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Portuguese Empire
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Geographic distribution of the Portuguese language
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PALOP
External links
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Official site of the CPLP
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[1] Equatorial Guinea becomes since 07/13/2007, the 9th Portuguese-speaking country
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Seminário da CPLP – Culture and Development of the CPLP
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Africanidade The African countries of the CPLP
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ELO Economical relations between the EU and the CPLP
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UCCLA Unity of the Capital Cities of Portuguese language
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