"The proposal of Angola is that Cape Verde, by way of exception, extend its presidency until July 2021, when the Luanda summit will take place and there will then be the formal passage from the presidency of Cape Verde to the presidency of Angola," Francisco Ribeiro Telles told Lusa by telephone.
The diplomat added that "there is a request [from Angola] to Cape Verde to extend its presidency until July 2021, taking into account the pandemic situation" caused by the new coronavirus.
"Cape Verde said it would accept that charge. Now that proposal will be submitted to member states at the next meeting of the permanent consultation committee [CCP], which will take place here in Lisbon on 28 July," the diplomat continued.
Thus, the summit of heads of state and government, scheduled for September this year, will be held in July 2021, "if member states agree with the proposal that Cape Verde will present at the next CCP.
"The summits normally take place in July. The idea of [this year] being in September [as was planned until now] had to do with timing reasons," Ribeiro Telles explained.
In January, the executive secretary of the CPLP told Lusa that the summit of heads of state and government of the community's member states was scheduled for September.
Initially scheduled, as usual, for July - the month in which the Portuguese-speaking organization celebrates its anniversary - the summit of heads of state and government was eventually scheduled for "2 and 3 September," according to "a proposal from Angola in that sense," the Portuguese ambassador said then.
The Luanda summit marks the end of the mandate of the rotating Cape Verdean presidency of the CPLP and the beginning of the Angolan presidency.
However, in April, with the covid-19 pandemic already declared, the executive secretary admitted in statements to Lusa that "it would be difficult" for the summit to take place in September.
This Tuesday, Francisco Ribeiro Telles stressed that Angola made this request to Cape Verde in view of the circumstance of the covid-19 pandemic, not only in the country, but also in all CPLP member states.
On Monday, Cape Verde's Foreign Minister announced that the country would extend the rotating presidency of the CPLP until 2021, following a proposal from Angola, a country that should already assume the leadership of the Portuguese-speaking organisation in July of this year.
"Because of the effects of covid-19, Angola proposed that Cape Verde remain in the presidency of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries until 2021," Luís Filipe Tavares told Lusa.
In an interview with Cape Verdean Television, Luís Filipe Tavares said that the Extraordinary Council of Ministers (meeting of the heads of diplomacy of Portuguese-speaking countries) should take place later this year in Cape Verde to discuss the mobility proposal, "if the situation of the pandemic allows it.
The decision on the possible extension of the rotating presidency of the CPLP by Cape Verde will only be taken after the meeting of ambassadors scheduled for May 28 in Lisbon, he also said on Monday to the Lusa source of Angolan diplomacy, reacting to statements by the Cape Verdean minister.
"Even if there is a proposal from Angola and Cape Verde agrees, the decisions are taken by member states" of the CPLP, said the spokesman for the Angolan Foreign Ministry.
"It's a joint decision, in multilateralism that's how it works," Estevão Alberto added.
The member states of the organization are Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.
