The community voted to give Hungary the status at its 11th summit held in Brasília on Oct. 31-Nov. 1, the ministry said in a statement, adding that this constituted international recognition of the government’s policy of southern opening.

Hungary’s membership as an observer state in the community will aid its cooperation with CPLP member states and will further boost the country’s ability to enforce its economic interests on the international stage, the ministry said. Over the past years, the CPLP has increased its emphasis on economic cooperation, the ministry added.

One reason in particular why Hungary’s observer status will be advantageous for the country’s economic players is because when assessing applications in connection with multilateral initiatives, bids submitted from observer countries are given preference over those from third countries, the statement added.

The CPLP was founded in 1996 with the aim of deepening political and economic relations among Portuguese speaking countries.

The community has nine members and ten countries have associate observer status in the organisation. The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Uruguay were also given associate observer status at the Brasília summit.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.