The Community of Portuguese Language Countries, also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth, is an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese is an official language. The CPLP operates as a privileged, multilateral forum for the mutual cooperation of the governments, economies, non-governmental organizations, and peoples of the Lusofonia. The CPLP consists of 9 member states and 32 associate observers, located in Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, totaling 37 countries and 4 organizations.
Maria do Carmo Trovoada Pires de Carvalho Silveira is a former Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe who served from 8 June 2005 to 21 April 2006.
Portuguese is spoken in a number of African countries and is the official language in six African states: Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea. There are Portuguese-speaking communities in most countries of Southern Africa, a mixture of Portuguese settlers and Angolans and Mozambicans who left their countries during the civil wars. A rough estimate has it that there are about 14 million people who use Portuguese as their sole mother tongue across Africa, but depending on the criteria applied, the number might be considerably higher, since many Africans speak Portuguese as a second language, in countries like Angola and Mozambique, where Portuguese is an official language, but also in countries like South Africa and Senegal, thanks to migrants coming from Portuguese speaking countries. Some statistics claim that there are over 41,5 million Portuguese speakers in the continent. Like French and English, Portuguese has become a post-colonial language in Africa and one of the working languages of the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Portuguese co-exists in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Principe with Portuguese-based creoles, and in Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau with autochthonous African languages.
The Portuguese-speaking African countries, also known as Lusophone Africa, consist of six African countries in which the Portuguese language is an official language: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and, since 2011, Equatorial Guinea. The six countries are former colonies of the Portuguese Empire. From 1778 until independence, Equatorial Guinea was also a colony of the Spanish Empire. In 1992, the five Lusophone African countries formed an interstate organisation called PALOP, a colloquial acronym that translates to African Countries of Portuguese Official Language. The PALOP countries have signed official agreements with Portugal, the European Union and the United Nations, and they work together to promote the development of culture, education and the preservation of the Portuguese language. Together with Portugal and Brazil in 1996, the Portuguese-speaking African countries established the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, which East Timor later joined in 2002 and Equatorial Guinea in 2014.
Guinean Portuguese is the variety of Portuguese spoken in Guinea-Bissau, where it is the official language.
The Portuguese language is spoken in Asia by small communities either in regions which formerly served as colonies to Portugal, notably Macau and East Timor where the language is official albeit not widely spoken, Lusophone immigrants, notably the Brazilians in Japan or by some Afro-Asians and Luso-Asians. In Larantuka, Indonesia and Daman and Diu, India, Portuguese has a religious connotation, according to Damanese Portuguese-Indian Association, there are 10 – 12,000 Portuguese speakers in the territory.
Francisco Ribeiro Telles is a Portuguese diplomat, who served as the Executive Secretary of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, also known as the Lusophone Commonewealth, from January 2019 until July 2021.
The Executive Secretary of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries is the executive head and highest representative of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth.
The VII Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 7th CPLP Summit was the 7th biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held on the Ilha do Sal, in Cabo Verde, on 17–18 July 2018.
The I Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 1st CPLP Summit was the 1st biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, Portugal, on 17 July 1996.
The II Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 2nd CPLP Summit was the 2nd biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held in Praia, Cabo Verde, on 16-17 July 1998.
The III Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 3rd CPLP Summit was the 3rd biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held in Maputo, Mozambique, on 17-18 July 2000.
The IV Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 4th CPLP Summit was the 4th biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held in Brasília, Brazil, on 31 July-1 August 2002.
The V Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 5th CPLP Summit was the 5th biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held in Brasília, Brazil, on 26-27 July 2004.
The VI Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 6th CPLP Summit was the 6th biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held in Brasília, Brazil, on 17 July 2006.
The VIII Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 8th CPLP Summit was the 8th biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held in Luanda, Angola, on 23 July 2010.
The IX Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 9th CPLP Summit was the 9th biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held in Maputo, Mozambique, on 13-20 July 2012.
The X Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 10th CPLP Summit was the 10th biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held in Díli, Timor Leste, on 23 July 2014.
The XI Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, commonly known as the 11th CPLP Summit was the 11th biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, held in Brasília, Brazil, on 31 October-1 November 2016.
