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Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão was one of the invited speakers at the gathering, entitled “Writing in Portuguese”, promoted by the National Assembly, as part of the Portuguese Language Week to celebrate the World Portuguese Language and Culture Day of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP). The event took place on May 8, 2024 at the Noble Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. 
In his speech to an audience comprised mainly of young university students and future Portuguese literature teachers, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of reading in the process of acquiring knowledge and encouraged everyone to develop the habit of regular reading.
In addition to Kay Rala, Sofia Santos translated Gonçalo M. Tavares’ work Os Velhos Also Querem Viver into Tetum, and João Paulo Esperança translated several literary works into Tetum, including Eça de Queirós and Vicente Paulino, an East Timorese scholar and poet who has published poetry in Portuguese. Each speaker shared with the audience their creative, writing and/or translation process. 
May 5th was officially established in 2009 by the CPLP, an intergovernmental organization with Portuguese as one of its pillars, which aims to promote the Portuguese language and Portuguese culture. In 2019, during the 40th General Conference of UNESCO, May 5th of each year was declared “World Portuguese Language Day”.
With over 265 million speakers across all continents, Portuguese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and the most spoken in the Southern Hemisphere. It remains one of the main languages of international communication and is scheduled for significant geographical expansion in the future. 
The meeting was attended by the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for ASEAN Affairs, representatives, the Secretary-General, Deans of Academic Affairs and other distinguished guests.
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