The São Tomé Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto Pereira, was speaking at the reception of around 30 staff from Equatorial Guinea who are going to learn Portuguese and carry out internships in various areas in São Tomé and help organize the XIV Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Portuguese Speaking States, which will take place in the capital of São Tomé, on the 27th of August.
"Just yesterday I received the minister of Foreign Affairs of Angola [Tete António] in São Tomé [...] when I said to him, 'Look, we received the brothers from Equatorial Guinea', he was even ashamed. He said it straight away: 'We had promised this a long time ago to the brothers in Equatorial Guinea, but it just went 'bla, bla, bla', in practice we did nothing. What you are doing is a great sign for the country that has better conditions to see it'", said Alberto Pereira.
During the reception at the São Tomé Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of the ambassador of Equatorial Guinea, Paulino Bololo, the head of São Tomé diplomacy explained that, for training in the Portuguese language, the São Tomé Government has a partnership with Embassy of Brazil in the archipelago that offered free courses to Ecuadoreans.
"Portugal always says [...] we accept Equatorial Guinea, but they are not speaking Portuguese, but what have they really done to help Equatorial Guinea speak Portuguese? Nothing. Just criticize. A program like this they could do a lot" , said the head of São Tomé diplomacy.
"But I believe that the entire CPLP will be aware of what we are doing at that moment in São Tomé and I believe that many will start to think seriously and do the same thing later on. So this is an opening, a sign that we we want to send to our brothers in our community that it is not worth it just to talk and talk and, in practice, not see anything", added Alberto Pereira.
The diploma underlined that São Tomé and Príncipe is "a poor country", but what counts is that it is "rich at heart", because often "you can have many financial conditions, but if you don't have a good heart, it's the same thing as anything".
"It has always been our will to have this exchange with the brothers of Equatorial Guinea, but unfortunately the previous circumstances did not allow us to materialize this will that exists between our States and our two representatives", he explained.
The official admitted that the process will be a learning experience for both countries, noting that "not everything will be 100 percent", but the Sao Tome government will ensure the integration of Ecuadoreans into the various work teams at the CPLP summit , namely the protocol, security, kitchen and others.
Until the summit, the 30 young technicians from Equatorial Guinea will carry out internships in various institutions in Sao Tome, namely the Presidency of the Republic, National Assembly, Prime Minister's office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Unit for the Protection of State Leaders.
Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste are the nine Member States of the CPLP.
One of the commitments of Equatorial Guinea's accession to the CPLP was the dissemination of Portuguese, the abolition of the death penalty, achieved at the end of last year, and greater democratic openness.
