“Today, as a result of this support, we have registered notable improvements in our democratic process and in good governance, through the strengthening of our control and monitoring institutions, such as the Assembly of the Republic and the Administrative Court”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mozambique, Verónica Nataniel Macamo Ndlhovo, on March 1, 2023, in Brussels, in her speech on the occasion of the celebration of 30 years of Cooperation between Portuguese-speaking African Countries and Timor-Leste with the European Union (PALOP-TL and the EU)
The Minister also said that Mozambique “notes with great satisfaction the invaluable contribution of the PALOP-TL Program in the context of implementing the 2030 Agenda with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals, namely:
- a) The promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development;
- b) The guarantee of access to justice for all;
- c) In achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls, and
- d) Revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development.
The Minister underlined, however, that with the end of the Cotonou Agreement, “new challenges arise for the future of cooperation between the PALOP-TL and the EU, which must be overcome in order to consolidate the achievements achieved.”
He said, on the other hand, that he agrees with the “continuity of the areas of Economic and Financial Governance, the consolidation of the rule of law in our countries and the creation of jobs, which have had positive results in our countries.”
The Minister witnessed, in Brussels, the signing of the Financing Agreement for the new project “Support to economic governance in the PALOP-TL”, which will be implemented in the form of a Delegated Cooperation Agreement with the United Nations Development Program, through the its office in Cape Verde. The Agreement was signed by the European Commissioner, Jutta Urpilainen, and by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Business Development of Cape Verde, Olavo Avelino Correia.
The Minister underlined that there are more than enough reasons for the continuation of cooperation between the PALOP-TL and the European Union. “The uniqueness of our Program’s homogeneity should serve as a support base for its reinvigorated continuity, as we have more than enough reasons to continue our partnership with the European Union, guided by the principles of complementarity, subsidiarity and proportionality.”
The celebration ceremony of the 30 years of PALOP-TL Cooperation with the European Union took place during the Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting in the capital of the Kingdom of Belgium and was preceded by the Technical Meeting, on February 28, 2023.
The European Commissioner, Jutta Urpilainen, and the Director General of the European External Action Service for Africa, Rita Laranjinha, participated in the ministerial 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, Verónica 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.
