Portugal-Cape Verde summit "was a success"

The Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa underlined the "very deep relation" between Portugal and Cape Verde at the press conference at the end of the sixth summit between the two countries, held in Praia. He added that the summit "was a success" due to signing the 2022-2026 Strategic Cooperation Programme, of around 95 million euros, and five bilateral agreements.

António Costa highlighted the "very special focus on promoting two fundamental areas for human development: health and education" and indicated the Portuguese assistance given to the school libraries network in Cape Verde and the implementation of the national reading plan.

"This summit had to be postponed because of the pandemic, but at the first chance we got, we decided it was time to hold it. It was now time to turn a page on the pandemic and, more than ever, when the world is in a terrible war scenario due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this is the time to show how the future of populations must lie on friendship, cooperation, and the alliances they are able to build", he said.

Holding the EU-AU summit

The Prime Minister claimed that the two countries seek to "offer a joint contribution" to applying the decisions of the European Union – African Union summit to "support and assist with implementing what was agreed on in Brussels"

Underlining the need to "transform the partnership into a true alliance", he added that "there is a road to pave and together, we will continue to do so". For this, the next Portugal-Cape Verde summit will be held on Portuguese soil in 2024, "resuming the normality we hope no war or new pandemic will upset".

António Costa also said, "we greatly acknowledge the contribution the Cape Verdean community has given over the years to our country’s development".

From partnership to alliance

The Cape Verdean Prime Minister claimed that "the summit was a success" and complimented the "widely encompassing" relationship between the two sister countries, whether at institutional level, whether at the level of the people, investors, entrepreneurs, or academia.

Ulisses Correia e Silva claimed that there is "an interest in developing further" the relationships, take them "from a partnership to an alliance, given the proximities and many common interests between Cape Verde and Portugal, in terms of our situation geographical location, our relations, whether economic, political, diplomatic, or cultural between the peoples and the countries that are fond of each other".

Correia e Silva underlined the importance of holding the summit in the context of the "pandemic that still exists and has its impact" and the war in Ukraine, with "all its current and future implications".

"We need peace, yet we also need to continue cooperating. And it must be a strong signal for our more global cooperation", he stated, noting that the Strategic Cooperation Programme is a "very strong cooperation package" that reinforces relations with Portugal.

The Strategic Cooperation Programme, to the sum of 95 million euros, is in line with the Cape Verdean Government’s Sustainable Development Strategic Plan and associated with the UN 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals, states the summit’s final declaration.

Agreements 

Five bilateral agreements were also signed, "a reflection of the continued vibrancy and substance of the cooperation between Cape Verde and Portugal". Among these we have two Memorandums of Understanding for direct assistance to the State Budget (2022-2026) and cooperation in the legal and justice administration fields.

There were also partnership agreements to implement the Technical Police and Civil Protection Cooperation Programme, the cooperation to implement the School Libraries Network and the Cape Verdean National Reading Plan, and a Memorandum of Understanding in the fields of sports and youth.

Excellent relations

The summit approved a final declaration that states that "once again", "the privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries and which is reflected in the excellent political relations and joint cooperation of the development of various areas", as well as "exemplary coordination, under multilateral cooperation, of consensus on a wide range of subjects of current international affairs" was shown.

The two Governments also highlighted the "uniqueness of the Special Cape Verde – European Union Partnership, where the strategic partnership with Portugal plays a fundamental role and undertaking to work towards attaining new thresholds".

In the field of health, they "congratulated the measures taken in both countries" to face the Covid-19 pandemic, "where Portugal noted the commitment and results obtained by Cape Verde in implementing an effective and successful vaccination programme".

Portugal’s commitment under the Action Plan in response to the Covid-19 pandemic between Portugal and the Portuguese-Speaking African Countries and East Timor was also mentioned. This Action Plan "supported Cape Verde in its vaccination process, which included, among various other dimensions, the donation of 78 000 shots of the vaccine".

Despite the intensifying of cooperation in health and the good outcomes, it is worth "reinforcing support to institutional capacity-building and specialised training" to "improve quality in health services with an impact also on reducing medical evacuations".

Mobility within the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries

The two Governments welcomed "in a special way" the signature of the Agreement on Mobility in the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, approved at the summit of July 2021 and "noted with significant appreciation the circumstance of Cape Verde and Portugal, as well as a large majority of its member states having completed the ratifying process".

"They expressed their firm purpose in effectively having mobility between the two countries, namely through this additional partnership instrument. This agreement will contribute not just to cement the ties of friendship, cooperation, and proximity between the two states and peoples, but also to foster sustained development in the various fields", states the declaration.

Lastly, "they noted the irreplaceable role of the Cape Verdean community in Portugal and the Portuguese community in Cape Verde to define the special relations that tie our countries together and reiterated the commitment to promote initiatives aimed at the growing and full integration of the respective communities", the declaration goes on to say, signed by both Prime Ministers.

Ukraine

During the meeting, the two Heads of Government António Costa and Ulisses Correia e Silva "reviewed several issues of common interest, namely the situation in Ukraine. They unequivocally condemned the use of force in relations between states".

Affirming the "respect for the values and international law set in the United Nations Charter", they reiterated "upholding the right to equality and territorial integrity of states. They lamented the loss of lives and human suffering and asked Russia to immediately cease the hostilities and resume negotiations and dialogue".

Visit

The Portuguese Prime Minister arrived in Cape Verde on the 6th and met up with the Portuguese community and visited the Old Town. 

Today, following a working breakfast with the President of the Republic, José Maria Neves, and visiting the Portuguese School in Praia, the summit was held with a meeting between the two Prime Ministers, the meeting of the delegations, signing the agreements and a press statement. 

Portuguese School

At the Portuguese School, whose first state was launched in 2017 and the second in 2019, António Costa said that the third stage will now move forward. The school began its activity in the 2016/2017 school year with 22 students and this year has 883 students from pre-school to 10th grade. In the next year, it will offer 11th grade and the year after that, 12th grade, to respond to the high demand.

In addition to the physical expansion, there will also be in an increase in the vocational teaching on offer, preparing for higher education and collaborating in training teachers in Cape Verde.

Ensuring a future

The Prime Minister said that Portugal keeps "working with the Cape Verdean Government to ensure that the history we inherit has a future. And the best way to ensure that future is these seeds the Portuguese School is sowing. The creation of new generations, where the bond between our two peoples is very strong and promising for the future we will build together".

"Over these last six years, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing how a dream can come true and, above all, how our optimism has allowed us to enhance our ambition to continue to grow this dream and this reality", he said.

The Portuguese School in Cape Verde is assisted by the Portuguese State Budget and works under a bilateral cooperation agreement with Cape Verde. It has 67 teachers and 47 workers.

Old Town

The Prime Minister congratulated the rehabilitation of the Old Town, near Praia, claiming it is "a highly exciting work to recover this incredibly rich heritage of the Old Town, which is one of the hallmarks of what has united us over so many centuries".

The Old Town has been considered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as Heritage of Humanity.

The church of Our Lady of the Rosary is considered the oldest building in the Old town, which remains intact and has a Gothic chapel, recovered with the support of the Portuguese Cooperation.

This "is a heritage built by all, it is a heritage that today is a Heritage of Humanity, and that Cape Verde has known how to treasure. It is a huge factor to value this land and our common history" António claimed.

Built in 1495, on the site of a small Gothic chapel, the church of Our Lady of the Rosary, where Father António Vieira preached, and where Vasco da Gama and Christopher Colombus stopped by, has one of the rare examples of Gothic architecture in sub–Saharan Africa.