Eurico Monteiro, who spoke to Lusa after a meeting of the CPLP's Permanent Concertation Committee (CCP), a usual meeting of ambassadors of the Member States, which took place in person at the organization's headquarters in Lisbon, said that, for now, the meeting it will be virtual, but the possibility of being able to be carried out in person if conditions exist, in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, that allow this to happen.
The preparation of the extraordinary Council of Ministers, as well as the 10th CPLP Heads of State and Government Summit, which will take place in Luanda in 2021, will be on the agenda of another informal Council of Ministers meeting, which will take place at next Monday, September 28, in virtual format, and as usual outside the United Nations General Assembly, he said.
"At this informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers from the Member States, the date of the summit should be defined," he said.
According to Eurico Monteiro, another of the topics scheduled for the informal Council of Ministers next Monday is the state of cooperation between the various member states of the CPLP, particularly in emergency situations, such as the pandemic.
On 31 January, the proposal on the mobility of Portuguese-speaking citizens was completed.
At the time, the Cape Verde ambassador pointed out that it was a project "approved at a technical level" for the development of mobility between the CPLP States, establishing a "framework agreement", which allows the countries of the organization to develop partnerships according to your interests.
"We have a variety of solutions that can be incorporated into specific partnerships and, of course, also the choice of partner. A state can choose a partner and go 100 percent mobility, and, with another partner, half-way mobility. term or even simply stay at a minimum. It adapts to different circumstances and above all it adapts to the solutions and the internal realities of States ", defended Eurico Monteiro at the time.
However, this is an agreement that "has the minimum of binding".
"All Member States that are part of, that sign and ratify this agreement are immediately obliged to allow all public officials who hold diplomatic, service or special passports to move freely within the territory of the parties for a period of 90 days ", explained Eurico Monteiro, adding that there is another commitment.
According to the document, Member States should seek to "create the conditions to progressively move towards higher levels of mobility".
The proposal also establishes variable modalities "so that States can adapt the mobility and speed model of an implementation plan in accordance with their reality", he added.
Likewise, the proposal will make it possible to select the types of passports that can enter a Member State.
The extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers in Cape Verde, in which the mobility proposal finalized in January should have been discussed and approved, was scheduled for 17 and 18 April, although these were not considered definitive dates, but the pandemic prevented the its realization.
After the approval of the proposal at the extraordinary Council of Ministers, it should be considered at the CPLP Conference of Heads of State and Government, scheduled for July next year, in Luanda.
CPLP is composed of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.
