António Guterres receives CPLP award on November 5 in Lisbon

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, receives the José Aparecido de Oliveira prize, awarded by the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) on 5 November in Lisbon, an official source of the Portuguese-speaking organization said.

At the XII Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP, which took place on July 17 and 18 this year, in Santa Maria, on the island of Sal, Cape Verde, the José Aparecido de Oliveira Prize was awarded to the Secretary-General of the Organization the United Nations (UN), former Portuguese prime minister and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres.

According to the Portuguese-speaking organization, the Heads of State and Government took this decision “for a singular action, with international projection, in the defence and promotion of the principles and values of the CPLP, as well as for the high contribution in the promotion and diffusion of the Portuguese language” by António Guterres.

Guterres participated, as prime minister of Portugal, in the constituent summit of the CPLP, 17 of July of 1996.

The prize, created in 2011, would be awarded for the first time in the year following the former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In 2014, the former President and Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão and the Timorese Catholic Church were honored, while in 2016 the distinguished ones were the former Portuguese head of state Jorge Sampaio, the former executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Carlos Lopes and Ambassador Lauro Barbosa da Silva Moreira, Brazilian career diplomat and first permanent representative to the CPLP.