Zacarias da Costa spoke in the capital of São Tomé and Príncipe after a meeting with the prime minister of São Tomé and Príncipe, Patrice Trovoada, and after an extended meeting with members of the government at the executive headquarters.

"The CPLP is not me, the CPLP is the nine countries that form this community, taking into account that we respect the sovereign decisions of each government, naturally we have to respect the sovereign decisions of the authorities of São Tomé and Príncipe", stressed Zacarias da Costa.

Questioned about his view on the agreement, the executive secretary of the CPLP considered that "there are no dramas".

"There are issues that are transversal to all countries, the issue of terrorism, drugs, we have to find solutions to be able to deal with these challenges that are common, so I don't see any problem", stressed the executive secretary of the CPLP.

Zacarias da Costa, who today began a two-day official visit to São Tomé, defended that we should "look more to the future within the CPLP than always look to the past and some situations that are misinterpreted by one or the other side".

São Tomé and Príncipe signed with Russia a technical military agreement, "for an indefinite period", which provides for training, use of weapons and military equipment and visits by planes, warships and Russian vessels to the archipelago, a government source told Lusa.

According to the official Russian news agency Sputnik, the agreement was signed in Saint Petersburg on April 24 and began to be implemented on May 5.

The also Russian TASS had reported a meeting, on that day, in Moscow, of the head of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, with the Minister of Defense of São Tomé and Príncipe, Jorge Amado, to discuss "issues of mutual interest".

According to the Russian press, the two parties agreed to cooperate in the areas of joint training of troops, recruitment of armed forces, use of weapons and military equipment, logistics, exchange of experiences and information within the framework of the fight against the ideology of extremism and international terrorism, education and training of personnel.

In addition, the agreement between the two countries provides for participation in military exercises.

Sputnik quotes the agreement stating that military cooperation between the countries "contributes to strengthening international peace and stability".

On Wednesday, the Liberation Movement of São Tomé and Príncipe/Social Democratic Party (MLSTP/PSD), leader of the São Toméan opposition, criticized "the secrecy" with which the government signed the military agreement with Russia, predicting consequences in the relationship with the European Union and the United States.

"This is an agreement that at no time did we hear any communiqué from the Council of Ministers alluding to. An agreement of this magnitude, in a very sensitive area and considering the world context at the moment, I think it requires interaction between the various sovereign bodies, therefore the Government, the Presidency of the Republic and knowledge of the National Assembly for approval and ratification by the President of the Republic", defended the leader of the São Toméan opposition, Jorge Bom Jesus.

Read Also: IL alarmed by agreements between CPLP and Russia and wants explanations from Rangel (Portuguese version)