Community of Portuguese Language Countries

Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa Community of Portuguese Language Countries
Headquarters		Lisbon, Portugal
Official language		Portuguese
Membership		Eight countries (plus three associate members)
Leaders
-	Secretary General	Domingos Simões Pereira
-	Summit Presidency	Angola
Establishment		1996
Website http://www.cplp.org

Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa, pronounced [kumuniˈdad(ɨ) duʃ pɐˈizɨʒ dɨ ˈlĩɡwɐ puɾtuˈɡezɐ] (EP), [komuniˈdadʒi dus paˈiziz dʒi ˈlĩɡwa poɾtuˈɡezɐ] (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 240 million people located across the globe. The CPLP nations have a combined area of about 10,772,000 square kilometres (4,159,000 sq mi).

Formation and member states

The CPLP was formed in 1996 with seven countries: Portugal, Brazil, 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 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 5 May 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.

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.^[2]

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

In 2008, Senegal, with historical connections to Portuguese colonisation in Casamance, was admitted as Associate Observer.

Members

Country	Status	Year joined	Official language(s)	Continent	Population
Portugal	member	1996	Portuguese	Europe	10,617,575
Brazil	member	1996	Portuguese	South America	186,757,608
Angola	member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	15,941,000
Mozambique	member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	21,397,000
Cape Verde	member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	499,796
Guinea-Bissau	member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	1,586,000
São Tomé and Príncipe	member	1996	Portuguese	Africa	157,000
East Timor	member	2002	Portuguese and Tetum	Asia/Oceania	1,115,000
Equatorial Guinea	associate observer	2006	Spanish, French and Portuguese	Africa	1,014,999
Mauritius	associate observer	2006	English	Africa	1,264,866
Senegal	associate observer	2008	French	Africa	11,658,000

Officially interested countries and regions

Country/Region	Interested Status	Official language	Continent	Population	Reference	Possible date of discussion	Notes
Andorra	associate member	Catalan	Europe	71,822	[1]	2010 - VIII CPLP Summit - Luanda	More than 15% of Andorra's population is made of Portuguese expats
Morocco	associate member	Arabic	Africa	33,757,175	[2]	2010 - VIII CPLP Summit - Luanda	Some areas of Morocco colonized by Portugal, proximity to Madeira Islands
Philippines	associate member	Filipino and English	Asia	90,500,000	[3]	2010 - VIII CPLP Summit - Luanda	Historical ties to the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan
Venezuela	associate member	Spanish	South America	26,814,843	[4]	2012 - IX CPLP Summit	Large number of Portuguese expats
Croatia	associate member	Croatian	Europe	4,453,500	[5]	2012 - IX CPLP Summit	?
Romania	associate member	Romanian	Europe	22,246,862	[6]	2012 - IX CPLP Summit	Has migratory fluxes with Portugal[3]
Ukraine	associate member	Ukrainian	Europe	46,372,700	[7]	2012 - IX CPLP Summit	Has migratory fluxes with Portugal
Indonesia	associate member	Indonesian	Asia	237,512,352	[8]	In negotiations	Portugal was the major colonial power until Dutch hegemony
Swaziland	associate member	English and Siwati	Africa	1,185,000	[9]	In negotiations	Share a border with Mozambique with whom it have economic ties
Australia	associate member	English (de facto)	Oceania	22,420,039	[10]	In negotiations	Discovered by portuguese navigators. Has a large community of portuguese, brazilian and timorese expats
Luxembourg	associate member	Luxembourgish, German and French	Europe	502,202	[11]	In negotiations	In 2001 census, there were 58,657 inhabitants with Portuguese nationality in Luxembourg (11,7%)
Galicia	member	Galician and Spanish	Europe	2,783,100	[12]	Pending Spanish Government approval	Cultural and linguistic ties with Portugal
Macau	member	Portuguese and Chinese (Cantonese)	Asia	520,400	[13]	Pending Macanese Government approval	Chinese territory formerly under Portuguese administration and a small minority population is Portuguese
Malacca	associate member	Malay	Asia	733,000	[14]	Pending Malaysian Government approval	Portuguese colony for more than a century, small minority population of Portuguese descent
Goa	associate member	Konkani	Asia	1,400,000	[15]	Pending Indian Government approval	Former Portuguese colony. Has a portuguese speaking minority

Summits

Summit	Country	City	Year
I CPLP Summit	Portugal	Lisbon	1996
II CPLP Summit	Cape Verde	Praia	1998
III CPLP Summit	Mozambique	Maputo	2000
IV CPLP Summit	Brazil	Brasilia	2002
V CPLP Summit	São Tomé and Príncipe	São Tomé	2004
VI CPLP Summit	Guinea-Bissau	Bissau	2006
VII CPLP Summit	Portugal	Lisbon	2008
VIII CPLP Summit	Angola	Luanda	2010

Importance

The Portuguese-speaking countries are home to more than 240 million people located across the globe but having cultural similarities and a shared history. The CPLP nations have a combined area of about 10,742,000 square kilometres (4,148,000 sq mi), 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'état 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 favors 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.

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.

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

See also

• Lusophone music
• CPLP Games
• Lusophony Games
• TV CPLP
• Flag of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries
• Lusitanic
• Francophonie
• Commonwealth of Nations
• Latin Union
• Portuguese Empire
• Geographic distribution of the Portuguese language
• Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP)
• List of countries where Portuguese is an official language
• List of international organisations which have Portuguese as an official language
• Commonwealth of Independent States

References

External links

• (Portuguese) Official site of the CPLP
• (Portuguese) Seminário da CPLP – Culture and Development of the CPLP
• (Portuguese) Africanidade The African countries of the CPLP
• ELO Economic relations between the EU and the CPLP
• UCCLA Unity of the Capital Cities of Portuguese language