The Executive Secretary of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa, CPLP), Mozambican diplomat Murade Isaac Murargy, arrived in the Czech Republic as the main guest and speaker of the seminar “Czech Republic and Lusophone World - Past, Present and Future”. The event was organized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in cooperation with the Embassies of Brazil and Portugal and the Portuguese centre / Instituto Camões in Prague on May 30, 2016.

The aim of the seminar, which was attended by nearly a hundred representatives of government bodies, academic institutions, entrepreneurs and general public, was to broaden awareness about the possibilities of economic, cultural, scientific and educational cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Portuguese-speaking countries. At the same time, organization of the seminar was one of the steps to support the candidature of the Czech Republic for membership in CPLP as observer. The Czech Republic presented its candidature in March 2016, after this step, proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was agreed by the Czech Government.

The issue of observer status in CPLP and deeper and wider cooperation between the Czech Republic and Lusophone world also belonged among the main topics of separate discussions held between Martin Tlapa and Murade Murargy.

By willingness to participate in the work of CPLP the Czech Republic aims not only at intensification of its relations with Portugal as an important partner in the EU and the stimulus of cooperation between all Lusophone countries, but also with Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world, and sub-Saharan Africa, where Portuguese - after English and French – is the third most widely spoken language. In total this community comprises over two hundred and fifty million people living on four continents (besides Portugal and Brazil the CPLP members are Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe)

Many of the CPLP member states are among current or potentially very interesting economic partners of the Czech Republic, which - with the exception of Portugal and Brazil - does not have its resident diplomatic representation in these countries. In the past, experts of the former Czechoslovakia implemented a number of investment projects, especially in energy, construction and engineering industries, in many Lusophone countries. Current Czech export to CPLP countries amounts to 22 billion CZK and has significant growth potential.

The Czech Republic should – as CPLP observer - contribute to the promotion of Lusophone culture and the teaching of Portuguese language, which is part of study programmes of five Czech universities, namely Charles University, Palacky University, the University of Hradec Kralove, Masaryk University, and the University of Economics in Prague.

Among the benefits of CPLP membership is participation in university exchange programmes, access to the online platform with educational materials and audiovisual documents about Portuguese-speaking countries. Linking with the CPLP will thus help to improve the quality of teaching of Portuguese language in the Czech Republic.

By improving the quality of teaching and the overall practical level of knowledge of Portuguese, the Czech Republic should in the medium term acquire new capacities that will enable more efficient work of Czech businesses in the Portuguese-speaking markets.