Angola on Monday July 24 began the gradual handover of the rotating presidency of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) to São Tomé and Príncipe, with the head of Angolan diplomacy promising not to leave the archipelago alone in his mandate.
“This is a relay exercise. We run, [but] we are not going to leave the flame to São Tomé and Príncipe alone, because also in this meeting we address the issue of the `troika’, the way the organization must take care so that the organization that succeeds another can continue to support the one who presides and the one who will come already starts to see in a little more depth what happens in the organization,” said Téte António, after a ceremony in the São Toméan capital.
According to the Angolan foreign minister, the act also served to review what was the Angolan presidency, which had the theme “Building and strengthening a common and sustainable future”, and which will formally end on 27 August, during the São Tomé summit.
“We insisted on the economic aspects that the organization must include, we introduced the economic pillar, the economic affairs department within the secretariat, we also worked on the revision of the status of associated observers, and there is a process of internal regulation that has been initiated and will certainly be continued by São Tomé and Príncipe”, recalled the head of Angolan diplomacy.
The São Toméan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto Pereira, emphasized that the preparation activities for the summit and the presidency of the CPLP do not begin and end on the day of the meeting of the heads of state and government.
“The CPLP is an evolving organization, dossiers may start in one presidency and continue to another presidency. Therefore, the summit will be the milestone where there will be the official passage from one state to another,” he stated.
The ceremony of the gradual handover of Angola’s presidency takes place about a month before São Tomé and Príncipe hosts the XIV Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP.
São Tomé and Príncipe succeeded Angola in the rotating presidency of the organization, for a period of two years, with “Youth and Sustainability” being the theme chosen by the Lusophone country for the biennium from 2023 to 2025.