Brasília, March 15, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The approval of a document entitled "Letter from Salvador" marks the end of the International Seminar on Culture and Development, which brought together representatives of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) in Salvador, capital of the state of Bahia, in Northeast Brazil. The event managed to assemble not only institutions but representatives of civil society linked to the cultural universe of seven of the eight countries that constitute the CPLP (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and San Tomé and Principe). East Timor was the only absent member.

For the resident representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Brazil, Carlos Lopes, the event succeeded in giving legitimacy to the proposals that arose during the gathering, made by people from the most varied areas of culture, from representatives of governmental bodies to scholars and even artists.

From the Brazilian perspective, according to Paulo Miguez, secretary of Evaluation and Promotion of Government Cultural Policies, in the Ministry of Culture, the seminar reinforced the leadership role that the country has played among the members of the CPLP. "I think that our country has much to gain, in every aspect. By leading a process of this nature, Brazil is reasserting what its foreign policy has produced: the possibility for the country to exercise leadership," he said.

The CPLP is a multilateral forum for the deepening of mutual friendship and cooperation among its members.

Created on July 17, 1996, the CPLP has as goals, among others, cooperation in all areas, including education, health, science and technology, defense, agriculture, public administration, communications, public safety, culture, sports, social communication, and the propagation of the Portuguese language.

The headquarters of the CPLP is in Lisbon, Portugal. (DAS)