H.E. Mr Manuel Nuno Tavares de Sousa (Portugal)

H.E. Mr Manuel Nuno Tavares de Sousa, the Permanent Representative of the Portuguese Republic to the OPCW presented his credentials to the Director-General on 20 October 2008. He is concurrently accredited as his country’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Ambassador de Sousa, a career diplomat joined the Portuguese Foreign Service in 1972. Prior to his present assignment Ambassador de Sousa was the Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, for a period of two years from 2006 to 2008 and has also served with the rank of Ambassador and Counsellor in the following countries: Paris, France (1981 – 1985), Egypt, Sudan, Jordan and Syria (1998 – 2002).

Earlier in his diplomatic career, Ambassador de Sousa held the position of the Assistant to the Cabinet Minster of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1974), First Secretary (1979) and Counsellor (1985). From 1976 to 1981, Ambassador de Sousa was the Diplomatic Counsellor to the President of the Portuguese Republic.

Ambassador de Sousa has held several positions within the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which included the following: the Director for the Middle East and Maghreb Region (1987), the Director for Europe (1988), the Director of the Administration Department (1994-1998), the Director General for Bilateral Relations (2002-2004) and the Inspector General of Diplomatic and Consular Affairs (2004-2006).

During the Portuguese EU presidency in 1992, Ambassador de Sousa organised and coordinated the Conference of Lisbon for the Central Europe Inititave (CEI) countries. In October 2003, Ambassador de Sousa was the Head of the Portuguese Delegation for the Ministerial Forum of the Mediterranean, held in Antalya, Turkey.

Ambassador de Sousa has completed his studies in Law from the University of Coimbra in 1970.

Categories: Permanent Representatives, Western Europe and Other States