Published in furtherafrica.com
The Community of the Portuguese Language Countries’ Council of Ministers approved the proposal of free movement of persons within the Community
The Community of the Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP – Comunidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa in Portuguese) approved a proposal in order to grant the free movement of persons in the Lusophone space.
The Council of Minister held this month, with the Presidency of Cape Verde, concurred with the Technical meetings of February and March enabling another step in the creation of an effective Lusophone space.
The next phase of the project will be the final approval by the CPLP’s Head of State and Government Meeting that will be held in July in Luanda. If the proposal is approved, the States will start the process of internal approval required to the free movement within the Lusophone space become a reality.
The CPLP is an international organization composed of 9 Member States from all over the globe, all with the Portuguese language as an official language.
Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, and East Timor are the members of the Community. Additionally, Andorra, Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal, Slovakia, Serbia, Turkey, Uruguay, and United Kingdom are observers. Macau, Galicia, and Uruguay already demonstrated publicly the interest of being members of the Community, while countries like the United States demonstrated interest in being observers.
Created in 1996, the CPLP was created to be the key multilateral forum of discussion and cooperation between the Portuguese-speaking countries with the purpose of increasing the bounds between the Lusophony diplomacies and create a space of cooperation sedimented in common goals. Defence, Science, Technology, Culture, Sports, Justice, and Agriculture are among the key areas of cooperation pursued by CPLP.