VII CPLP Summit

The VII CPLP Summit, which was held on July 24 – July 25 2008 in Lisbon, Portugal, was the second Community of Portuguese Language Countries summit held in Lisbon.

Participants

Members

*POR
**President Aníbal Cavaco Silva
*AGO
**Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos
*BRA
**President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
*CPV
**President Pedro Pires
*GBS
**President João Bernardo Vieira
*MOZ
**Minister of Foreign Affairs Oldemiro Balói
*STP
**President Fradique de Menezes
*TLS
**President José Ramos-Horta

Associate Observers

*GNQ
**President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
*MUS
**Representant of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacques Balyon
*SEN
**Minister of Foreign Affairs Cheikh Tidiane Gadio

Organizations

*flagicon|African Union African Union
**Commission Chairperson Jean Ping

enegal

In this Summit, Senegal become the third associate member of CPLP.

Senegal has a strong community of people that came from Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. Senegal also includes the Casamance territory, that was Portuguese until the XIX Century, when it was offered to France. Even today, the people of Casamance are more linked with Guinea-Bissau than with Senegal itself, and some of the citizens of the territory even want an independent Portuguese-speaking Casamance country.