In the joint declaration on the occasion of the XIV Brazil-Portugal Summit, they “emphasised the global value of the Portuguese language and reiterated their joint commitment to its international promotion and appreciation through measures that materialise the gradual expansion of its use within the framework of the United Nations, with a view to making the Portuguese language an Official Language of the United Nations”.

To this end, they created a working group between the Camões Institute and its Brazilian counterpart Guimarães Rosa “to analyse the different options and modalities to reinforce the use of the Portuguese language at the United Nations”.

Before the declaration was made public, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, in a press conference at the Planalto Palace in Brasília, highlighted precisely this objective.

“We have a challenge to overcome, Mr. President. We already touched on it briefly at the last United Nations General Assembly and today we have taken an important step towards taking the decisive step,” he said, alongside the Brazilian head of state, Lula da Silva.

“We want to make Portuguese a working language of the United Nations and a working group will emerge from this summit to explore the methodology to get there quickly, the financing mechanisms and the best way to implement it”, he stressed, receiving applause from the delegations of the two countries present.