According to the announcement on the official website of the Presidency, Álvaro Castello-Branco will remain as Secretary of State for National Defense, joined now by Nuno Pinheiro Torres, who will serve as the Deputy Secretary of State for National Defense Policy.
Ana Isabel Xavier, an expert in international relations and 15th candidate for the Lisbon constituency as an independent with the AD, departs from the Ministry of Defense, which she joined in the first government led by Luís Montenegro, to assume the role of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.
The Ministry of Defense will continue to be led by CDS-PP President Nuno Melo and will retain two State Secretariats as in the previous administration.
Álvaro Castello-Branco, Vice-President of the CDS-PP, is 63 years old, holds a law degree, and served as a centrist deputy from 1999 to 2009, returning to Parliament between 2015 and 2019.
He was also Vice-President of the Municipal Chamber of Porto and Administrator of Águas de Portugal.
Nuno Pinheiro Torres is a law graduate, university professor, and was Director-General of National Defense Policy from 2012 to 2020.
Until today, he served as Executive Administrator of FLAD — Luso-American Development Foundation, and according to a biographical note released by the executive, he participated in United Nations missions in East Timor and Iraq.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has accepted today the list of 43 Secretaries of State proposed by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro for the 25th Constitutional Government.
The swearing-in ceremony for the Secretaries of State is scheduled for Friday at 12:00 PM at the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon.
