Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

My first words are addressed to our host, President José Eduardo dos Santos. I am certain I am interpreting the feelings of us all in the very sincere words of thanks that I am conveying to him for the warm and fraternal hospitality with which he has welcomed us and our congratulations for the organization of this VIII Summit of the CPLP Heads of State and of Government.

The drive that Angola has always placed in the strengthening of CPLP, as well as its commitment to the values and principles on which our Community is based are a guarantee for the success of the Summit and of the Angolan Presidency that will start today.

In a few minutes I shall ask the Prime Minister of Portugal to inform you in greater detail the path we have followed and the much it was possible to achieve, jointly, since the Lisbon Summit, in 2008.

I will allow myself, however, to highlight the steps we took with respect to the assertion and international projection of the Portuguese language that we assumed in our New York meeting, in September 2008, when the United Nations General Assembly was being held.

These were steps with a strong symbolic value, such as instituting the 5th of May as the CPLP day of Portuguese Language and Culture, but also more material events, such as the use of the Portuguese language in several multilateral forums, such as UNESCO and the African Union, and the preparation of the Brasilia Action Plan and the new Charter and Internal Regulation of the International Institute of Portuguese Language, extremely relevant tools that we will be called upon to approve at this Summit.

The extraordinary expansion that the Portuguese language has been achieving now demands that we consider several fronts. The first of them is, obviously, the internal front and that relates to the matter of teaching in each of our own countries. But Portuguese is, equally, one of the languages with greater expansion in third countries, where it is searched for as a second language or even as a foreign language.

This situation is the result of a development with which we are all very pleased. A development that meets the interests of each one of us and of our Community, since it favours the assertion of our voice in the international scenery and allows taking advantage of the economic opportunities provided by an universal language. This, however, is equally a situation that places great challenges, immediately with respect to the human resources required to answer them and, even more, to feed them. Challenges that demand from us an action on which we are agreed and stand together.

Heads of State and of Government,
Dear Friends,

Our Community must be, more than ever, a project of citizenship, a project that comprises and musters the contributions of our citizens. The creations of the CPLP Parliamentary Assembly and of the CPLP Entrepreneurial Confederation were extremely relevant steps in this direction, which I very warmly salute. As has equally been the action carried out by the multiple structures and Forums in which the life of our Community is nowadays asserted.

However, it is necessary to go further in the answer to the expectations of our citizens. In this sense I want to highlight the progress recorded in the negotiations over a Framework Agreement relative to the Charter of the CPLP Citizen, hoping these may be soon completed.

I also hope that it will be possible to confirm that the I Forum of the CPLP Civil Society will take place during the current year.

Another aspect that deserves highlighting is the strengthening of our political agreement in third countries and within the international organizations in which we belong. Agreements which have been made clear when what may be at stake is the situation in any of our Member States, as has been the case of Guinea Bissau, or yet in the mutual endorsement of applications made to bodies of international organizations or the organization of large world events.

I want, in this regard, to once again state Portugal’s firm support for Brazil’s application as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and thank each one of you for the support for Portugal’s application to the same body, as a non permanent member.

Please allow me to greet, as well, the strengthening and enlargement of our areas of cooperation, a development of which a relevant example is our Common Strategy for the Oceans.

Heads of State and of Government,
Dear Friends,

CPLP is a young organization, ambitious and confident in the future. We want, and know how to go further. We must however recognize the extraordinary progress we have jointly achieved in the short space of time of 14 years.

A progress that can easily be discernible in the regularity and intensity of our political agreements, in the agreed support provided to some of our brother countries in their more difficult hours; in the multiplicity and diversity of the areas covered by the structures of dialogue and connections which comprise our Community; or yet the growing interest that our activities provoke at international level.

An international interest that is evident due to the number and importance of the organizations and countries that already follow, or intend to follow our labours, or yet the requests for Observer status that we have been receiving.

This interest is the result of the weighty recognition that CPLP already has in the international stage and of what can be foreseen that it may represent in the future.

But this is also owed to our image of cohesion surrounding the bonds, the principles and the values contained in our Charter and that define the nature and the personality of our Community and that are of great relevance to preserve the credibility and the recognition of what we have been able to achieve in these last 14 years.

I am certain it will be so. On behalf of this family of peoples that is spread over four continents and that recognizes itself in an identity due to which none of us can ever feel as a foreigner in any of our countries; on behalf of the ambitions of all those that dreamed this project, such as Ambassador José Aparecido, whose memory I recall here; on behalf of all we were able to jointly achieve throughout the latter 14 years; on behalf of a future that calls upon us and of the hopes and expectations that our citizens place on us.

I end thanking you all for the support provided to Portugal in the exercise of our Presidency.