The Community of Portuguese Language Countries or Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (Portuguese: Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa; abbreviated as CPLP) is the intergovernmental organization for friendship among Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) nations, where Portuguese is an official language.
Formation and member states[]
The CPLP was formed on July 17, 1996 with eight countries: Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor Leste.
The CPLP is a bloc in the process of construction and the societies of the eight member nations have little knowledge of each other. One of the features of the CPLP is that its members are linked by a common language and shared cultural features, which form a bridge among countries separated by great distances and on different continents.
In 2005, during a meeting in Luanda, the ministers of culture of the eight countries declared the 5 May as the Lusophone Culture Day (Dia da Cultura Lusófona in Portuguese).
Macau, which was returned to the Republic of China in 1999, and Goa, which joined with British India in 1975, were accepted as members in 2006 with the permission of the British and ROC governmemts.