The CPLP operates as a privileged, multilateral forum for the mutual cooperation of the governments, economies, non-governmental organizations, and peoples of the Lusofonia.

[3] The CPLP consists of 9 member states and 33 associate observers, located in Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, totaling 38 countries and 4 organizations.

The CPLP was founded in 1996, in Lisbon, by Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe, nearly two decades after the beginning of the decolonization of the Portuguese Empire.

The idea of a type of international community or political union of Portuguese language countries had been proposed and studied numerous times in history.

[4] The Community of Portuguese Language Countries was officially founded on 17 July 1996 at the 1st CPLP Heads of State & Government Summit, in Lisbon, Portugal.

[3] CPLP is a multilateral forum created to deepen cultural, economic, and political cooperation among the Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) nations of the world.

[13] The Executive Secretary, who must be a high-ranking diplomat or politician from one of the member states, is elected for a mandate of two years at the biennial CPLP Summit, and can be reelected once to a second term.

The Statutes establish, since the Summit of Bissau in 2006, the existence of a Director General, and the position of Deputy Executive Secretary ceased with his appointment.

The chosen personalities were three former Heads of State, Jorge Sampaio (Portugal), José Sarney (Brazil) and Joaquim Chissano (Mozambique).

[15] The 2017 Exercício Felino military exercise taking place in Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras, Resende, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aims for the increased interoperability of the armed forces of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and East Timor.

The first phase of the exercise, known as Carta (chart) took place in Cape Verde in 2016, in which the operation was planned and executed using computer networks as a war game.

In addition to these activities, sectorial Action Plans for two years are instituted, which seek to meet the priorities identified for the period in question.

As part of its action, the Conference establishes partnerships with national or international organizations for activities in areas of clear interest to members.

The Parliamentary Assembly of Lusophony is the body that brings together the representations of all the Parliaments of the Member States, constituted on the basis of the respective electoral results of the legislative elections.

The Network of Women Parliamentarians of the AP-CPLP (RM-AP-CPLP) is an organism of the Parliamentary Assembly considered a space for consultation and cooperation that watches over issues of gender equality and equity, with specific objectives and competences.

Among the competences attributed to the functioning of this Network, the defense and promotion of gender equality and equity in social, political and economic life in the CPLP universe are distinguished; encouraging the formation and training of women parliamentarians; support for the candidacy of Women for the exercise of leadership; encouraging the implementation of public policies and legislation aimed at combating the feminization of poverty, sexually transmitted infections and the education of young people; the encouragement of behavior that is against practices that are likely to cause physical harm; and also, the improvement of the participation of women parliamentarians in conflict prevention and electoral processes.

The UNILAB is a private postgraduate institution that trains managers and high-level trainers in areas that are a priority for development in Lusophone Africa, but also includes East Timor and Macau.

On that date, the constitutive document was signed by the presidents of the municipalities of Lisbon (Nuno Abecasis), Bissau (Francisca Pereira), Maputo (Alberto Massavanhane), Praia (Felix Gomes Monteiro), Rio de Janeiro - that ceased being the capital of Brazil in 1960 -(Laura de Macedo), São Tomé (Gaspar Ramos) and Macau (Carlos Algéos Ayres).

Then came the remaining capital cities of Portuguese official expression and other non-capital cities, such as Brasília – capital of Brazil since 1960 - (1986), Cacheu and Luanda (1989), Guimarães (1990), Taipa and Coloane islands (1991), Santo António (1993), Ilha de Moçambique (1994), Salvador (1995), Belo Horizonte (1998), Belém (1999), Bolama, Huambo, Porto Alegre and Mindelo (2000), Dili (2002), São Filipe, Oecusse (2004), Angra do Heroísmo (2013) and Santiago de Compostela (2016).

The international intermunicipal association focuses on cooperation projects in the areas of companies, immigrants, culture, promotion of the Portuguese language and urban issues such as garbage, the road system, heritage conservation, public health and water supply.

It aims to stimulate research and exchange between students and teachers and also proposes continuous reflection through the daily dissemination of news and the organization of conferences and events.

Only 10 years later in a meeting in São Tomé and Príncipe, a small island-nation in the Gulf of Guinea, the institute's objectives, implementation and location (Cape Verde) were set.

The IILP's fundamental objectives are "the promotion, the defence, the enrichment and the spread of the Portuguese language as a vehicle of culture, education, information and access to scientific and technologic knowledge and of official use in international forums".

[21] In July 2014, during the Dili summit, the Heads of State and Government approved a resolution that grants Georgia, Japan, Namibia and Turkey the status of Associate Observers.

In January 2018 and prior to the 2018 summit, Italy requested the observer status as an effort for the consolidation of bilateral relations with all of the Portuguese-speaking countries.

In its request, the Italian government referred that due to the increasing number of associated observers in the community, CPLP is becoming a forum for countries in various geographical regions.

[28] The Portuguese-speaking countries are home to 267 million people located across the globe but having a common language, a shared history, and some cultural similarities.

However, this free movement is based on a different model: as residence permits, associated with the recognition of academic degrees and professional qualification, and maintenance of social rights including pension systems.