Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Community of Portuguese Language Countries

The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa, pron. (EP), (BP); abbreviated to CPLP) is the intergovernmental organization 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 .

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 gaining independence.

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 5 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 along with 17 International associations and organizations considered as Consultative Observers. In 2008, Senegal was admitted as Associate Observer.

Members

Status	Year joined	Official language	Continent	Population
member	1996	Portuguese	Europe	10,584,344
member	1996	Portuguese	South America	186,757,608
member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	15,941,000
member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	21,397,000
member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	499,796
member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	1,586,000
member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	157,000
member	2002	Portuguese and Tetum	Asia	1,115,000
associate member	2006	Portuguese, Spanish and French	Africa	1,014,999
associate member	2006	English	Africa	1,264,866
associate member	2008	French	Africa	11,658,000

Officially interested countries and regions

Country/Region	Interested Status	Official language	Continent	Population	Possible date of discussion
	associate member	Catalan	Europe	71,822	2010 - VIII CPLP Summit - Luanda
	associate member	Arabic	Africa	33,757,175	2010 - VIII CPLP Summit - Luanda
	associate member	Filipino and English	Asia	90,500,000	2010 - VIII CPLP Summit - Luanda
Galicia	associate member	Galician and Spanish	Europe	2,783,100	Pending Spanish Government approval
	member	Portuguese, Chinese (Cantonese)	Asia	520,400	Pending Chinese Government approval
Malacca	associate member	Malay	Asia	733,000	Pending Malaysian Government approval
Goa	associate member	Konkani	Asia	1,400,000	Pending Indian Government approval
	associate member	Croatian	Europe	4,453,500	2012 - IX CPLP Summit
	associate member	Romanian	Europe	22,246,862	2012 - IX CPLP Summit
	associate member	Ukranian	Europe	46,372,700	2012 - IX CPLP Summit

When the CPLP was formed, Equatorial Guinea asked for observer status. Equatorial Guinea was a Portuguese colony from the 15th to 18th centuries 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. Equatorial Guinea is in discussion for full membership.

Mauritius, which was unknown to Europeans until the Portuguese sailed there and has strong connections with Mozambique, also obtained associate observer status in 2006.

Summits

Summit	City	Year
I CPLP Summit	Lisbon	1996
II CPLP Summit	Praia	1998
III CPLP Summit	Maputo	2000
IV CPLP Summit	Brasilia	2002
V CPLP Summit	São Tomé	2004
VI CPLP Summit	Bissau	2006
VII CPLP Summit	Lisbon	2008
VIII CPLP Summit	Luanda	2010

The importance of the CPLP

The Portuguese-speaking countries are home to more than 223 million people located across the globe but having cultural similarities and a shared history. The CPLP nations have a combined area of about , 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 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

Name	Took Office	Left Office	Country
Marcolino Moco	17 July 1996	July 2000	Angola
Dulce Maria Pereira	July 2000	1 August 2002	Brazil
João Augusto de Médicis	1 August 2002	April 2004	Brazil
Zeferino Martins (Interim)	April 2004	July 2004	Mozambique
Luís de Matos Monteiro da Fonseca	July 2004	Present	Cape Verde

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 President, 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