Lisbon, July 16, 2026 (Lusa) - The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) was established 30 years ago, on 17 July 1996, by seven member states, a number that rose to nine following the accession of Timor-Leste (2002) and Equatorial Guinea (2014).
Below is a chronology of the key events from the community’s 30-year history, which includes Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste.
- 1983
During an official visit to Cabo Verde, the then Portuguese minister of foreign affairs, Jaime Gama, proposed holding biennial rotating summits of heads of state and government from the then seven Portuguese-speaking states – Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe – as well as annual meetings of foreign ministers and frequent consultations between political directors and representatives at the UN and other international organisations.
- November 1989
Thanks to the efforts of the then Brazilian Ambassador to Portugal, José Aparecido de Oliveira, the first concrete step towards the creation of the CPLP was taken in São Luís do Maranhão (Brazil), following a meeting of heads of state and government of the Portuguese-speaking countries, at the invitation of the then Brazilian President, José Sarney.
At the same meeting, it was decided to establish the International Institute of the Portuguese Language (IILP), which aimed to promote and disseminate the community’s common language.
- February 1994
The seven ministers of foreign affairs and external relations, meeting for the second time in Brasília, decided to recommend to their respective governments that a Summit of Heads of State and Government be held with a view to adopting the CPLP’s founding act.
They also decided to establish a Permanent Consultative Group, based in Lisbon, which would include a senior representative of the Portuguese ministry of foreign affairs (the Director-General for foreign policy) and the ambassadors accredited to Lisbon (the only capital city where embassies of all CPLP countries are located).
- June 1995
The seven ministers met again in Lisbon, reaffirming the importance to their countries of the establishment of the CPLP and reiterating the commitments made at the Brasília meeting.
- 17 July 1996
The Summit of Heads of State and Government was held in Lisbon, marking the creation of the CPLP.
The founding ceremony was attended by the presidents of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos; Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso; Cabo Verde, António Mascarenhas Monteiro; Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo “Nino” Vieira, Portugal’s Jorge Sampaio, and Mozambique’s Joaquim Chissano, as well as the prime ministers of São Tomé and Príncipe, Armindo Vaz de Almeida, and Portugal, António Guterres.
The first Executive Secretary of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries is the former Angolan prime minister (1991–96), Marcolino Moco, a post he will hold until the third conference of Heads of State and Government in 2000.
- July 1998
At the Second CPLP Summit, the Observer Status was established.
- July 2000
The Brazilian Dulce Maria Pereira takes over as head of the Executive Secretariat, a post she will hold until the Fourth Summit (July 2002).
- 20 May 2002
Timor-Leste joins the CPLP, becoming the community’s eighth member.
- July 2002
At the 4th Summit, the Brazilian diplomat João Augusto de Médicis replaced Dulce Pereira as head of the CPLP Executive Secretariat, a post he held until April 2004, when he died suddenly in Rome.
- July 2004
At the 5th Summit, the Cabo Verdean diplomat and former freedom fighter Luís Fonseca became Executive Secretary of the CPLP. A native of Ponta do Sol, on the Cabo Verdean island of Santo Antão, he served as Cabo Verde’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York between August 2001 and September 2004.
- July 2005
The CPLP Cabinet creates the categories of Associate Observer and Consultative Observer.
- July 2006
The 10th anniversary of the founding of the CPLP is marked in Bissau, which hosts the 6th Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Portuguese-speaking organisation.
Equatorial Guinea and Mauritius are accepted as associate observers.
- 8 January 2008
The post of Deputy Executive Secretary is abolished, and the organisation introduces the role of Director-General. José Tadeu Soares, the last person to hold the post, officially steps down on 1 February 2008. The Guinea-Bissau politician Hélder Vaz Lopes becomes the first Director-General of the CPLP, a post he will hold until January 2013.
- July 2008
At the organisation’s 7th summit in Lisbon, the Guinea-Bissau politician Domingos Simões Pereira becomes Executive Secretary, a post he will hold until July 2012.
- 20 July 2012
At the 8th Summit in Maputo, the Mozambican diplomat Murade Murargy becomes Executive Secretary, succeeding Domingos Simões Pereira of Guinea-Bissau.
- February 2014
The Cabo Verdean economist Georgina Benrós de Mello was appointed Director-General of the CPLP, a post she held until 2020.
- 17 March 2014
Portugal, which was due to take over the CPLP’s executive secretariat from the summit scheduled for July, ceded the position to São Tomé and Príncipe, citing the need to ensure that Africa was not absent from the organisation’s leadership roles, given that Brazil held the presidency of the community.
São Tomé and Príncipe took up the post of Executive Secretary of the CPLP until 2018, when it handed over to Portugal (2018–2020).
- 23 July 2014
At the Dili Summit, Equatorial Guinea’s accession to the CPLP was confirmed, bringing the total number of members of the Portuguese-speaking organisation to nine.
- 5 May 2016
The Governor of the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe, Maria do Carmo Trovoada Pires de Carvalho Silveira, formally announces that she is her country’s candidate for the post of Executive Secretary of the CPLP.
- 20 June 2016
Brazil’s new ambassador to the CPLP, Gonçalo Mourão, confirms the postponement of the 11th Summit, scheduled for July.
- 15 July 2016
The CPLP announces that, for the first time, it will not be sending an observation mission to the presidential elections in São Tomé and Príncipe due to a lack of funds.
- 19 October 2016
Equatorial Guinea’s ambassador to Lisbon, Tito Mba Ada, announces his country’s ratification of the CPLP’s statutes and assures that “all tasks” will be completed in time for the organisation’s summit scheduled for November of that year.
- 31 October 2016
During the opening of the 11th Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, it was announced that the applications for associate observer status in the CPLP from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Uruguay had been accepted by acclamation. These countries join Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal, Turkey, Japan and Georgia.
It was decided that Cabo Verde would assume the next presidency and host the 12th CPLP Summit.
- 1 November 2016
The CPLP’s New Strategic Vision was approved at the 11th Conference of Heads of State and Government in Brasília, and sets out as its main priorities “economic and business cooperation, food and nutritional security, energy, tourism, the environment, oceans and continental shelves, culture, education and science, technology and higher education”.
Seven new organisations were approved as Consultative Observers: the Galician Council for Culture, the João Lopes Foundation, the Pedro Pires Institute for Cabo Verdean Studies at Bridgewater University (United States), the Higher Institute of Agronomy at the University of Lisbon, the Institute for the Promotion and Development of Latin America (IPDAL), the Platform of Media Regulatory Bodies of Portuguese Language Countries and Territories (PER) and the German Society for Portuguese Language African Countries (DASP).
A proposal for Portuguese to become an official language of the United Nations (UN) by 2030 was approved.
The summit’s final declaration provides for “the gradual establishment of CPLP citizenship”.
- 13 March 2017
The first transfer of a female prisoner from one CPLP member state to another takes place, under the Agreements on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.
- 30 March 2017
At the 34th meeting of the cooperation focal points in Lisbon, member states agree to set up a network to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, to be achieved by 2030, and intend to present a report on this to the United Nations in a few years’ time.
- 5 April 2017
Brazilian President Michel Temer ratifies an agreement facilitating the issuance of visas for students born in CPLP countries.
- 20 April 2017
The Chiefs of the General Staff of the CPLP’s armed forces approve a project to establish a defence college and a joint disaster response mechanism.
- 26 October 2017
At a meeting in Brasília, the CPLP ministers of health and government representatives decided to establish a network of community human milk banks.
- 12 July 2018
The Cabinet approved a resolution establishing the National Council for Food and Nutritional Security, a body aimed at promoting and ensuring consumer confidence in food products.
- 18 July 2018
At the 12th Conference of Heads of State and Government, it was decided that Angola would assume the next rotating presidency.
The granting of Associate Observer status to eight countries was approved: the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Principality of Andorra, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Republic of Argentina, the Republic of Serbia, the Republic of Chile, the French Republic, the Italian Republic, and the Organisation of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI).
The Portuguese ambassador, Francisco Ribeiro Telles, was elected executive secretary for a two-year term of office, commencing in 2019.
The summit’s final declaration recommends “efforts to implement the Orthographic Agreement”.
A Declaration on People and Mobility within the CPLP was adopted, urging “member states to implement the agreements on mobility within the CPLP, as a demonstration of their commitment to building an area of free mobility and as an essential condition for progress in addressing the issue of mobility within the Community”.
- 1 January 2019
The Portuguese diplomat Francisco Ribeiro Telles takes up his post as Executive Secretary of the CPLP.
- 8 April 2019
A Solidarity Fund is established to support the regions affected by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, with a view to raising funds for the victims of the disaster.
- 4 June 2019
The organisation launches a Monitoring Mission for Equatorial Guinea’s CPLP Accession Programme in the country to “assess the developments that have taken place” since its accession in 2014.
- 26 November 2019
At the 4th CPLP Meeting of Ministers for Maritime Affairs in Cabo Verde, a commitment is made to cooperate on scientific research, the blue economy and the fight against illegal fishing and marine pollution.
- 1 January 2020
CPLP Executive Secretary Francisco Ribeiro Telles states, in an interview with Lusa, that the CPLP brand has been certified.
- 10 March 2020
CPLP Executive Secretary Francisco Ribeiro Telles said that the President of Equatorial Guinea had committed to funding a project to establish a Portuguese school in the country, to be managed by the organisation, at the end of his official visit to the country.
- 16 March 2020
The CPLP Presidency postponed all major meetings scheduled for March and April, including an extraordinary Cabinet meeting on mobility, due to Covid-19.
- 13 December 2020
Portugal and the CPLP signed a new headquarters agreement providing for various benefits for the organisation, notably tax exemption.
- 26 March 2021
The Council of Ministers, at an extraordinary meeting chaired by Cabo Verde, approved the proposal for the free movement of people within the Portuguese-speaking world, to be taken to the Summit of Heads of State and Government in Luanda.
- 24 June 2021
The CPLP and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) signed a memorandum of understanding for future cooperation in various fields, such as the Portuguese language.
- 16 July 2021
The 26th ordinary meeting of the CPLP Council of Ministers, at which the mobility agreement was approved; it is to be signed on 21 July in the presence of the Heads of State and Government of the community’s nine member states.
- 17 July 2021
The 13th Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, held in Luanda, approved economic cooperation as a new objective for the community, as proposed by Angola, which today assumed the organisation’s rotating presidency. This resolution, however, requires a revision of the organisation’s statutes to accommodate this new pillar, as well as the involvement of the member states’ investment agencies.
At the conference, 13 countries and international organisations were granted associate observer status. The countries were: Canada, Qatar, the United States, Ireland, Spain, India, Côte d’Ivoire, Peru, the Hellenic Republic and Romania. The organisations were: the Ibero-American Conference, the G7+, and the European Public Law Organisation (OEDP/EPLO).
For the first time, the next presidency was not announced because, as São Tomé and Príncipe was due to hold presidential elections, the organisation waited to see whether the nation agrees to take the chair.
Member states have warned Equatorial Guinea that human rights must be upheld; otherwise, it cannot be part of the CPLP.
The Guinea-Bissau President, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, announced that Guinea-Bissau is interested in assuming the organisation’s next presidency.
- 25 March 2022
At the 6th meeting in Luanda, the CPLP ministers of health committed to strengthening coordination among member states in the surveillance of and response to public health emergencies, including epidemics and disasters, and to prioritising surveillance, health promotion and disease prevention.
- 31 March 2022
Angola’s Minister of Education, Luísa Maria Alves Grilo, announced that UNESCO will be one of the organisation’s partners in the development of education.
- 29 April 2022
In Luanda, the CPLP approved a strategic agenda for economic cooperation for the 2022–2027 five-year period, focusing on improving access to finance to achieve its objectives, at the first joint meeting of the CPLP ministers of the economy, trade and finance.
- 3 May 2022
The CPLP ministers for tourism called for greater mobility to “expand air connectivity” within the community, one of the measures proposed to reverse the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the sector.
- 29 June 2022
The CPLP Ministers for Maritime Affairs formalised, in Lisbon, the creation of a cooperation platform aimed at promoting sustainable fishing and combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which accounts for 35% of global catches.
- 19 September 2022
The Vice-President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, announced on his Facebook page that “Equatorial Guinea has abolished the death penalty”, describing this as a “historic” step for the country. This announcement relates to the reform of the country’s Penal Code and not the Constitution, where the practice is still enshrined.
- 7 November 2022
The CPLP announced that all member states had completed the ratification of the Mobility Agreement and deposited the documents at the organisation’s headquarters.
- 3 January 2023
The Executive Secretary of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), Zacarias da Costa, announces that São Tomé and Príncipe will host the next CPLP summit, thereby assuming the organisation’s future presidency.
- 9 March 2023
At the 4th Extraordinary Meeting of CPLP ministers of health, the Strategic Plan for Health Cooperation up to 2027 was approved.
- 22 March 2023
Diplomatic sources announce that Gabon wishes to become a member state and submitted a formal expression of interest to the organisation’s executive secretariat in November 2022.
- 11 July 2023
The Ambassador of Equatorial Guinea to Portugal, Tito Mba Ada, announced that his country’s government had decreed the official introduction of the Portuguese language into the education system.
- 27 August 2023
At the 14th Conference of Heads of State and Government, held in São Tomé under the theme ‘Youth and Sustainability in the CPLP’, the Network of Human Rights Focal Points of member states was established, which will meet every two years.
It was decided that member states will pay an additional 27% of their contributions in 2026.
The Community approved the new regulations for associate observers, which require partnership plans with the organisation but do not impose contributions.
Paraguay becomes an associate observer of the CPLP.
Portugal announces that it is willing to convert member states’ debt into support for the environmental transition, as is the case with Cabo Verde.
Guinea-Bissau will assume the next presidency of the CPLP, between 2025 and 2027.
- 1 March 2024
The CPLP and the National Council of Ethics for the Life Sciences (CNECV) signed a memorandum of understanding in Lisbon to promote the Lusophone Bioethics Platform, with a view to collaborating in areas such as science and health.
- 8 May 2025
At the 3rd Extraordinary Meeting of CPLP Ministers of Culture in São Tomé and Príncipe, support was announced for the nomination of the Tarrafal Concentration Camp on Santiago, in Cabo Verde, as a World Heritage Site.
- 17 July 2025
The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, announced in Bissau that the CPLP would move forward with a bachelor’s degree in public health based on a common curriculum across all Portuguese-speaking countries.
The CPLP Council of Ministers did not discuss the choice of the next presidency and left the decision to the leaders’ summit.
- 18 July 2025
In Bissau, at the Conference of Heads of State and Government, the CPLP grants Australia the status of associate observer and notes “with interest” new applications, such as that of Ukraine.
The Executive Secretariat’s budget for 2026 is set to increase to €3.5 million.
The Angolan diplomat and former minister Maria de Fátima Jardim is the organisation’s new executive secretary.
- 16 December 2025
The CPLP elects Timor-Leste to temporarily assume the presidency of the organisation, replacing Guinea-Bissau, which was suspended from the organisation following the coup d’état of 26 November.
- 2 February 2026
Miguel Monteiro, a Cabo Verdean, is the new Director-General of the CPLP’s Executive Secretariat.
- 8 June 2026
4th Extraordinary Meeting of CPLP Ministers for Maritime Affairs, at which the Strategic Plan for Ocean Cooperation (2026–2030) was approved.
- 17 June 2026
The Portuguese minister of foreign affairs, Paulo Rangel, announces that the CPLP Council of Ministers, scheduled for 17 July in Dili, Timor-Leste, has been postponed to 19 August.
- 22 June 2026
The prime minister of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmão, announces at the CPLP headquarters that his country will be the next to chair the organisation, explaining that the current presidency corresponds to the term originally allocated to Guinea-Bissau.
- 23 June 2026
The General Assembly of the International Institute of the Portuguese Language (IILP), the institution’s new governing body, established as part of the revision of the Statutes approved at the 30th Ordinary Meeting of the CPLP Cabinet, met for the first time, at the CPLP headquarters, attended by representatives from Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Portugal and Timor-Leste, as well as the executive director.
NYC/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
