Portuguese economist Hernâni Lopes, who as a government minister spearheaded Portugal’s drive to join the European Union, will travel to Praia on July 12 for a conference. Lopes, whose trip is the result of an invitation from the Bank of Cape Verde, believes that the best option for Cape Verde is a “special association” with the European Union, an association in which fellow African island nation São Tomé and Príncipe would also take part.

 , “For Cape Verde, the fallout from hypothetical negotiations aimed at anything more than association (such as full membership, for example) with the EU will be predictable very intense and very likely unsuccessful.” As a result, said the current president of Portugal Telecom, “a thorough prospective exercise, which has not been done,” is indispensable.
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The economists comments were made during the seminar “Portugal / Cape Verde: a partnership for the future,” promoted by the Portugal / Cape Verde Chamber of Commerce and Tourism on Tuesday in Lisbon.
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Portuguese Defense Minister Luís Amado, who spoke at the opening of the seminar, affirmed that development aid to Africa should include cooperation in the technical-military area, considering the fact that economic development is impossible without security, just as security is impossible without economic development.
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The debate, the first of others that will follow on specific areas of cooperation between the two countries, was attended by Cape Verde’s Minister of Infrastructures and Transportation, Manuel Inocêncio Sousa, and Bank of Cape Verde governor Carlos Burgo, as well as representatives from various Portuguese institutions, such as Octávio Santos from the ICEP. Cape Verde’s ambassador to Portugal, Onésimo Silveira, and Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) executive secretary Luís Fonseca were also present at the seminar.
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Hernâni Lopes believes that the two island nations “would have an interest in this type of triangular association with the European Union and Portugal” as leverage.
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Lopes also stressed the importance of analyzing Cape Verde’s intentions of negotiating the possibility of membership in the European Union in light of possible collateral repercussions.
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According to Lopes, there exist other decisive issues to be dealt with as well, such as “the development of the strategic partnership with Portugal, the expansion of relations with the European Union and the assumption of a central role within the CPLP.”
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Other important issues include the consolidation of an economic and social development policy based on the conception of Cape Verde as a circulation economy taking dynamic part in the global economy.
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In the meantime, the formation and affirmation of a Cape Verdean business class as an active and dynamic endogenous social group in Cape Verdean society and economy will be an important issue, according to the economist.