President Lula will be participating in the VII Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa – CPLP) taking place in Lisbon on 25 July.

Created in 1996, the CPLP consists of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé & Príncipe.

The main theme of the conference will be the Portuguese language, with discussions focusing on possible ways to increase its use around the world – for example through efforts to encourage its adoption as an official language by international organizations, provide support for the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language, and strengthen the role of the International Portuguese Language Institute (Instituto Internacional da Língua Portuguesa – IILP).

The conference will also be adopting resolutions on food security, HIV/AIDS, the circulation of cultural goods, and means of increasing participation by civil society in the CPLP.

The member countries are also due to sign an Agreement on Consular Cooperation that will open the way for the consular representation of one member country to provide assistance to the citizens of other member countries in parts of the world where they do not have representation of their own.

Source: Ministry of External Relations and Embassy of Brazil in London