The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) conference will meet in Dili to discuss the future of the organisation and their relationships in the region.
From July 17-July 23 the 10th Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP will meet with representatives from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe.
For the first time since Timor-Leste joined the CPLP in 2002 they have taken on the esteemed role of the biennial rotating presidency.
Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Constâncio da Conceição Pinto said Timor-Leste’s role as president includes bringing the CPLP to the region and connecting the CPLP with Asia.
“Timor-Leste has very close relationships with ASEAN and with the Pacific and we can be a gateway for other CPLP countries in this region,” he said.
“Holding the presidency has globalised the CPLP because when the CPLP was founded the meetings were always held in Europe and South America, or in Africa so this is the first time here.”
Portuguese is Timor’s co-official language along with Tetun, and makes them the only Portuguese speaking country in Asia.
Da Conceição Pinto said the conference is a milestone for Timor-Leste and the presidency will have great benefit for the country.
“This is one of the major international conferences and there are people who doubt our ability to organise. Having this conference will send a clear message to those people that we have the capacity to put on an important event,” he said.
Timor-Leste as along with the other member-states have goals for the conference, and the Vice-Minister said Timor wants to put the focus on the economy.
“Our goal is to make the organisation more active and more oriented towards economic co-operations and trade… we want to make sure during our presidency that the CPLP countries can be more active in interacting in the economy and investment,” Da Conceição Pinto said.
Dili has undergone extensive repairs, with roads being resealed and new footpaths built in the lead up to the conference, but local non-government organisation La’o Hamutuk said this shouldn’t overshadow the content of the conference.
The Timorese delegates to the conference will vote to formalise Equatorial Guinea’s membership, after an extraordinary meeting of the CPLP Council of Ministers earlier this year accepted their application.
The Dili-based analysis organisation playing a leading role in monitoring of policy and human rights, has released an official letter sent to President Taur Matan Ruak regarding Equatorial Guinea’s membership.
“Many people in Equatorial Guinea are hit with extralegal detention, jailed without trial, tortured, disappeared, and banned from exercising democratic and political rights and other human rights violations,” read La’o Hamutuk’s letter.
Minister Da Conceição Pinto said the CPLP exists to help other countries, and once Equatorial Guinea’s membership is formalised there are certain rules they have to follow.
“My own view is, countries sometimes need input from outside, we see things from the outside differently to how they see their own problems inside,” he said.
He said the government is aware of the problems relating to human rights and has read information provided by many human rights organisations, but is still committed to granting Equatorial Guinea full membership.
“There are still problems we have to work on and there are measures to do that…I think there is clear intention to fix their problems, and social problems aren’t easy and take a long time to solve and we can help each other sort them out.”
