Cape Verde’s Prime Minister, José Maria Neves, has called on governments within the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP under its Portuguese language acronym) to “work together” with the private sector to enable financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises in those nations.

Mr Neves made his remarks in the Portuguese city of Braga, on the sidelines of the Second Forum of the CPLP Exporters Union.

“Regarding CPLP, we can create investment funds to support business initiatives within the CPLP, and we can create platforms to promote trade among countries,” said the Cape Verdean Prime Minister, as quoted by Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Mr Neves added that the CPLP community “only makes sense if it can ease the circulation of people and goods to increase trade, investment opportunities, jobs and growth” in all the countries within the group.

The CPLP’s membership is comprised of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor.