HANDOVER OF CPLP CHAIRMANSHIP TO ANGOLA ADDRESSED

Luanda - Angolan Foreign Minister, Téte António, and his Cape Verdean counterpart, Rui Alberto de Figueiredo Soares, Saturday discussed the handing over of the presidency of the CPLP from Cape Verde to Angola.

Currently under Cape Verde, the rotating presidency of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) will pass to Angola on 17 July, during the organisation's 13th Conference of Heads of State and Government, to be held in Luanda.

Angola will lead the organisation in the 2021-2023 biennium, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published Sunday.

Minister Téte António said he was satisfied with the exemplary, responsible and active way in which the current Cape Verdean presidency carried out its mandate, praising the presentation of the organisation's diagnosis and the identification of ways to continue to strengthen the CPLP, to make it closer to its citizens.

The ministers addressed issues inherent to the passage of dossiers of the various organs of the organization, including the meetings of the Focal Points of Cooperation, the Council of Ministers and the Permanent Consultation Committee, as well as the Conference of Heads of State and Government.

The issue of the swearing in and commencement of duties of the new Executive Secretary, the amendment of the Secretariat's Internal Regulation to adjust it to the equitable representation of the Member States in that structure and the sending of advisors, with competencies to develop political and diplomatic support work transversal to multilateralism, were also dealt with.

At this meeting, they concluded that the 13th Conference in Luanda will choose and announce the Member State that will succeed Angola as President of the organization in 2023.

The meeting was attended by the Executive Secretary of the CPLP, Ambassador Francisco Ribeiro Telles, of Portuguese nationality, whose mandate expires in July, and will be replaced by the representative of Eats Timor, as part of the rotational alphabetical order, as established by the statutes of the organisation.

The meeting was also attended by Angola's permanent representative to the CPLP, Carlos Alberto da Fonseca, the Angolan ambassador to Cape Verde, Júlia Machado, and other diplomats from the two ministries.

The delegation of Minister Téte António left Cape Verde on Sunday, returning to Luanda.