Africa-Press – Angola. The Executive Secretary of the CPLP, Zacarias da Costa, and the permanent representative of Angola in the organization, ambassador Oliveira Ecoje, are, since the beginning of this evening, on an official visit to Dakar, Senegal, where they will hold meetings with the local authorities and the academic community.
Zacarias Costa is in Dakar, at the invitation of the Group of Ambassadors of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), of which Angola is currently chairing.
At Blasé Diagne International Airport, Zacarias Costas was received by CPLP ambassadors accredited in the Senegalese Republic, namely Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Portugal.
According to a note from the Angolan Diplomatic Mission, in Dakar, the Group of CPLP ambassadors sees the visit as a milestone that increasingly expands the actions of valuing and disseminating the Portuguese language, as well as an opportunity for making official contacts with the Senegalese authorities.
This is the first official visit of a CPLP Executive Secretary to Senegal.
The visit is part of the celebrations of the Portuguese Language Day, celebrated on the 5th of May.
As part of the rotation, Angola succeeded Cape Verde in the presidency of the organization in the 2021-2023 biennium, and its mandate should end in July this year.
The member states of the community, founded on July 17, 1996, comprise Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor.
Senegal holds, since 2008, the category of Associate Observer of the CPLP, thus being one of the first countries to obtain that status.
In addition to the existing historical, cultural and political-diplomatic links between Portuguese-speaking countries and Senegal, there are currently 46,000 students of this language in this country, which generally has 290 million speakers worldwide. world.
Since 1967, Portuguese has been part of the official curriculum of Senegalese education at basic and secondary levels, by decision of the then first Head of State, Léopold Sédar Senghor.
However, since 1972, it has also been taught, as an option, at university level.
For example, Cheikh Anta Diop University, in Dakar, has 2,300 students who attend the Portuguese Studies course.
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