Speaking following a meeting during the ANOC General Assembly in Bangkok, at which ACOLOP were attending as official observers, Sheikh Ahmad met with a delegation headed by the body's President Alex Vong, vice-president of the Sports and Olympic Committee of Macau.

Also attending was ACOLOP vice-president Bernard Rajzman of Brazil, currently the only International Olympic Committee member from a Portuguese-speaking nation.

"I am happy to see that ACOLOP and Lusophone Games are progressing well and on track for the 4th edition," Sheikh Ahmad said.

"I closely watched the beginning of this project and hope to be present at the next edition of the Games in 2017 [in Maputo in Mozambique].

"You can count on my support and the support of ANOC."

The ACOLOP delegation posing with ANOC President Sheikh Ahmad after their meeting in Bangkok ©ACOLOP



Sheikh Ahmad, the Olympic Council of Asia President, will have special interest in ACOLOP due to the fact four of the members are from Asia.

He that financial support could be secured through various Olympic Solidarity programmes.

Formed in 2004, ACOLOP currently consists of nine full member-nations, from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Equatorial Guinea, Sri Lanka and the Indian state of Goa are also associate members.

It aims to develop sport, as well as international relations and cooperation among Portuguese-speaking countries and regions, with their multi-sport Games, known as the Lusophone Games, first held in Macau in 2006.

Further editions took place in Lisbon in 2009 and in Goa in January this year, with a special focus now on Rio 2016, the first Olympics to be held in a Portuguese-speaking country. 

ACOLOP is not the only body consisting of countries united by a language in the Olympic Movement, with the Francophone Association of National Olympic Committees also existing to preserve French language use. 

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