Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visits Luanda Book Fair at the invitation of João Lourenço

"I will now have a trip, but it's Luanda, to go, at the invitation of President João Lourenço, to the Luanda Book Fair," said the Portuguese head of State, without giving any further details, in statements to journalists on the sidelines of the visit of two days, which ended this Tuesday, to Cape Verde.

The Presidents of Portugal and Angola were two of the heads of State who attended the inauguration ceremony, which took place at the National Assembly, in Praia, of José Maria Neves as the fifth President of the Republic of Cape Verde, following Cape Verde's presidential elections of October 17th.

After taking office, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa met with the new President of Cape Verde, with the heads of state dealing with, he described, "three fundamental issues" for the two countries.

"Bilateral relations, and I invited him to visit Portugal at the beginning of next year, if possible in the first quarter of next year, if not in the first half of next year. And also in bilateral relations, financial, economic and cooperation issues social and cultural, outstanding", he explained.

"We dealt with the issue of the European Union and the deepening of the strategic partnership with Cape Verde, a subject that he knows very well from his time as prime minister [from 2001 to 2016]. And we also deal with the CPLP [Community of Portuguese Language Countries ], and in the domain of the CPLP, naturally, of the Angolan presidency, about which he had spoken with President João Lourenço", he added.

He also highlighted that he discussed with José Maria Neves the "generic perspectives of the CPLP's performance and the key role that Cape Verde, which has just had the presidency, could play".

"In connection with Angola, but also with Portugal and other sister countries, in what is a phase that is more focused on the application of the mobility agreement and on the economic and business part, which has been a part that has remained in the second plan," he concluded.

José Maria Neves took office this morning, before the National Assembly, gathered in a special investiture session, in the presence of delegations representing the governments of several countries and the Presidents of the Republics of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, of Angola, João Lourenço, of Guinea -Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, from Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, and from Senegal, Macky Sall.

Also present at the ceremony are the Vice President of Brazil, General Hamilton Mourão, the Secretary of Labor of the United States of America, Marty Walsh, the Minister for Gender Equality, Diversity and Equal Opportunities of France, Elisabeth Moreno, the president of the Chamber of Deputies of Equatorial Guinea, Mohaba Messu, the president of the Assembly of São Tomé and Príncipe, Delfim Neves, the executive secretary of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), Zacarias da Costa, and the president of Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Jean Claude Kassi Brou, among other national and international individuals.