VII CPLP Summit

The VII CPLP Summit, which was held on July 24 – July 25, 2008 in Lisbon, Portugal, was the second Community of Portuguese Language Countries summit held in Lisbon.^[1][2]

Participants

Members

•  Portugal
  • President Aníbal Cavaco Silva
•  Angola
  • Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos
•  Brazil
  • President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
•  Cape Verde
  • President Pedro Pires
•  Guinea-Bissau
  • President João Bernardo Vieira
•  Mozambique
  • Minister of Foreign Affairs Oldemiro Balói
•  São Tomé and Príncipe
  • President Fradique de Menezes
•  Timor-Leste
  • President José Ramos-Horta

Associate Observers

•  Equatorial Guinea
  • President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
•  Mauritius
  • Representant of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacques Balyon
•  Senegal
  • Minister of Foreign Affairs Cheikh Tidiane Gadio

Organizations

• African Union
  • Commission Chairperson Jean Ping

Senegal

At this Summit, Senegal become the third associate member of CPLP.

Senegal has a strong community of people that came from Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. Senegal also includes the Casamance territory that was Portuguese until the 19th century, when it was ceded to France. Even today, the people of Casamance are more linked with Guinea-Bissau than with Senegal itself and some of the citizens of the territory even want an independent Portuguese-speaking Casamance country.

1. Portugal's Ministry for Sciences, Technology, and higher Education: COMMUNITY OF PORTUGUESE SPEAKING COUNTRIES (CPLP) http://www.dges.mctes.pt/DGES/en/Mobility+and+International+Cooperation/International+Cooperation/Development+Cooperation/CPLP.htm
2. Summary of VII Summit (Portuguese) http://www.cplp.org/Default.aspx?ID=163