At an event to mark the World Portuguese Language Day, held at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday, Guterres thanked the Member States for the "generous donation of over a hundred books, including important contributions by Portuguese-speaking authors to world knowledge and culture".

"These works offer a window into the hearts and minds of the Portuguese-speaking world, inviting colleagues and readers to explore, reflect and be moved by the rich diversity of our language", said the UN chief.

The former Portuguese Prime Minister highlighted the importance of the language as a link between cultures and communities around the world and considered Portuguese, spoken by hundreds of millions of people, a "unifying force" that acts "as a vehicle for expression in diplomacy, the arts and literature".

Guterres noted that Portuguese is already a working language in some UN agencies, highlighting the Portuguese language service of 'UN News', together with the social media teams and the UN's Portuguese-speaking Regional Information Centres and Offices, which shows "the growing demand for information in Portuguese".

Efforts to make Portuguese one of the official languages of the United Nations are ongoing, but the financial investment required "is immense", Portugal's ambassador to the UN, Ana Paula Zacarias, told Lusa last year.

Also in 2023, the Central American Court of Justice had already proposed to the UN Security Council to incorporate Portuguese as an official language of the organisation, alongside English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

In an article published last Sunday in the newspaper Público, on the World Portuguese Language Day, the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, argued that the partner countries of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) should align positions so that the language is recognised as an official language of the UN by 2030, considering that "it would be a fair recognition".

Portuguese is not only one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with over 260 million speakers spread across all continents, but it is also the most spoken language in the southern hemisphere, according to UNESCO data.

Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste are the nine member states of the CPLP.

In his speech, Guterres recalled that, as Prime Minister of Portugal, he had the "privilege of participating in the creation of this Community almost 30 years ago", stressing that, today, "the values of dialogue and solidarity" at the heart of the CPLP "are more relevant than ever".

"I know that we can count on you in our mission for peace, human rights and sustainable development for all", concluded the Secretary-General.

The celebration featured live music, gastronomy and the presence of international diplomatic representatives, including ambassadors from the nine member nations of the CPLP.  

The Mission of Brazil to the UN organised the commemoration in partnership with Camões -- Institute for Cooperation and Language and the Guimarães Rosa Institute, which promotes cultural and educational diplomacy.

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