Biographical Note                                     BIO/3348*

                                                      20 March 2001

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF PORTUGAL PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

The new permanent representative of Portugal to the United Nations, Francisco Seixas da Costa, presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan today.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Seixas da Costa was Secretary of State for European Affairs in the Portuguese Government.  He was in charge of European Union affairs, bilateral relations with European countries, the European Union enlargement process, the internal market, the Mediterranean cooperation and the Schengen Agreement.

Mr. Seixas da Costa previously served as Deputy Director-General for European Union Affairs (1994-1995) and deputy representative of Portugal to the European Union (1990-1992).  He was also Director of the Cabinet of Studies of the Institute for Economic Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1989-1990), and head of the Portuguese negotiating team for the accession to the Lomé III Convention and for the negotiation of Lomé IV (1987-1990).

Mr. Seixas da Costa, who joined the Portuguese foreign service as a career diplomat in 1975, also served in his country’s embassies in Oslo, Luanda and London.  He has headed the Development Cooperation Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has been deputy representative of Portugal to the seventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD VII) in 1987.

Born on 28 January 1948, Mr. Seixas da Costa has a degree in social and political sciences from the University of Lisbon.

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*     Reissued for technical reasons.