The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique, Verónica Nataniel Macamo Ndlhovo, made this statement on March 1, 2023, in Brussels, at the opening ceremony of the Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting on Cooperation between the PALOP-TL and the European Union. “There is nothing good that cannot be improved. Therefore, although our cooperation is excellent, we can improve it”, underlined the Minister.
She also said that during the 30 years of cooperation between Portuguese-speaking African Countries and Timor-Leste with the European Union (PALOP-TL and the EU), “it was possible to strengthen democratic processes, good governance and mechanisms control of our public finances.”
She said that the history of cooperation with the European Union has also been characterized by “maintaining the identity and cohesion of Portuguese-speaking African Countries and Timor-Leste.”
He said, on the other hand, that he hoped that the new format of European cooperation – the Neighborhood, Development Cooperation and International Cooperation Instrument – would consolidate the “valuable results of the past and respond to the global challenges of the present, reflected in the main commitments and international goals, including:
1. The Sustainable Development Goals;
2. The 2030 Agenda; It is
3. The Paris Agreement.
The Minister took the opportunity to renew “our political engagement and firmness in consolidating the Cooperation Program between the European Union with the PALOP countries and East Timor.”
The European Commissioner, Jutta Urpilainen, and the Director General of the European External Action Service for Africa, Rita Laranjinha, participated in the meeting from the European Union.
From the PALOP-TL countries, the Deputy Prime Minister of Finance of Cape Verde, Olavo Avelino Correia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique, Verônica Nataniel Macamo Ndlhovo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities of São Tomé and Príncipe, Alberto Pereira, the Secretary of State for the Treasury and Public Accounting of Guinea-Bissau, Mamadú Baldé, the Secretary of State for the Economy of Angola, Ivan Manuel Marques dos Santos, and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Timor-Leste Cooperation, Francisco Tilman Cepeda.
