Biographical Note António Victor Martins Monteiro, the new Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations, presented his credentials today to Secretary- General Kofi Annan. Since July 1996, Mr. Monteiro has served as Coordinator of the Committee for Permanent Coordination of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries. He had previously having served as Coordinator of the Ambassadorial Committee in charge of the institutionalization of the Community (1994).
Mr. Monteiro has held several posts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lisbon, which he first joined in 1968. He served as Deputy Chief of Protocol (1979), and he was later appointed Chief of Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (1987). He then served as Director-General for Political and Economic Affairs (1993) and Director- General for External Policy (1994).
In 1991, after being a member of the Portuguese delegation for the mediation process of the Angolan peace accords, Mr. Monteiro headed the Temporary Mission for the Peace Process Structures in Angola and acted also as representative to the Joint Political and Military Commission.
In 1981, Mr. Monteiro was assigned to Portugal's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and in April 1984 he was appointed Deputy Permanent Representative.
Mr. Monteiro also served at the Portuguese embassies in Kinshasa (1971) and in Rome (1976). Also in Rome, in 1978, he was the Permanent Representative of Portugal to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Born in Angola on 22 January 1944, Mr. Monteiro holds a degree in law from the University of Lisbon. He is married and has two daughters.
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