Africa-Press – Mozambique. President Daniel Chapo today advocated for the consolidation of “shared citizenship” in the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), where citizens recognize one another, while opening the community’s parliamentary assembly.
“This ideal of shared citizenship should guide our governmental and legislative efforts, so that the citizens of our states recognize one another as part of a single space of belonging and solidarity,” the Mozambican head of state argued at the opening of the 14th Parliamentary Assembly of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (AP-CPLP) in Maputo.
The president described the CPLP as “a community of affections, but also of responsibilities and solidarity,” in which member countries share a “historical heritage” and a common language, thus calling for collective efforts to maintain peace and sovereignty within the countries, values defined as the “essence” of the community’s project.
“The strategic mission of our Community is to build and consolidate a true Lusophone citizenship, based on mobility, social protection, the sharing of knowledge, the appreciation of our diversity, and the recognition of rights within the CPLP,” said Daniel Chapo.
In the same speech, the Mozambican president called for reflection on the current state of relations between CPLP member states, and on the gains achieved with the creation of the community, including addressing the challenges to be overcome for the “effective affirmation of the Lusophone bloc in the concert of nations”.
He also advocated that the AP-CPLP reaffirm itself as a space for inter-generational dialogue, with youth and women at the centre of the legislative and development agenda of member countries.
Daniel Chapo hopes that the AP-CPLP will “deepen dialogue to build intercommunity citizenship, promoting citizen mobility and the exchange of knowledge, with a view to fostering the sustainable and equitable development of our countries and peoples”.
More than 100 delegates from CPLP member states, including parliamentary presidents, will participate today and Tuesday in Maputo in the 14th Parliamentary Assembly, a body that Mozambique will now lead.
The Portuguese parliament is represented during these two days of work by Deputy Pedro Alves (PSD), from Portugal’s parliamentary delegation to that CPLP body.
Meetings of the presidents of the CPLP parliaments, the standing committees and networks of the CPLP Parliamentary Assembly, and the presidents of the national parliamentary groups are also scheduled, according to the event’s program, which also includes the announcement of the host country for the body’s 15th meeting next year.
At the 14th AP-CPLP, Mozambique will assume the rotating presidency of the body, succeeding Equatorial Guinea, in a mandate focused on peace and inclusion.
Members of the National Group of the Parliament of Guinea-Bissau have cancelled their participation in the meeting.
Founded in 1996, the CPLP comprises nine countries: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste.
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