Maria de Fátima Monteiro Jardim, a graduate in biology from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, who was vice-president of the Council of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), representing Africa, a position she assumed in 2021, will, after approval at the Bissau Summit, replace the former Minister of East Timor Zacarias da Costa, who ends his second and final term in office in July according to the rules of the CPLP.
The name chosen by Angola to lead the executive secretariat of the community will be approved, according to the rules of the organization, at the next Summit of Heads of State and Government, which will take place on July 18 in Guinea-Bissau.
The name of Fátima Jardim was proposed by Angola last week in a letter sent by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tete António, to his counterparts, the same sources said.
The Angolan diplomat was director of the National Institute of Fisheries and Marine Research (INIPM) in the city of Lobito, and later took on the role of Director of the National Institute of Fisheries Research (INIP) in Luanda.
Given her training and professional experience, she has extensive experience in the area of maritime ecology, the oceanographic sector and fishing activities, as can be read on her Internet profile.
In addition to being Minister of Fisheries between 1992 and 1996, in the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation of Angola, she was Minister of Fisheries and Environment from 1996 to 2002 and from 2008 to 2015, she was Minister of Environment.
In 2015, she was sent to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 21), representing Angola and the Least Developed Countries in the negotiations that led to the Paris Agreement.
Between 2003 and 2008, Maria de Fátima Jardim was a member of the National Assembly of Angola.
Until March of this year, she was Angola's ambassador to Italy. In March, she was dismissed by the President of the Republic, who appointed Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, a diplomat and specialist in agricultural development with extensive international experience, in her place, according to news reports at the time.
The Executive Secretariat is the main executive body of the CPLP and is responsible for implementing the decisions of the Conference of Heads of State and Government, the Council of Foreign Ministers and the Permanent Concertation Committee (Committee of ambassadors representing the member states in Lisbon, the headquarters of the CPLP).
It is also responsible for planning and ensuring the implementation of the organization's programs, organizing and participating in meetings of the various community bodies and monitoring the implementation of decisions made at ministerial meetings and other initiatives of the organization.
The Executive Secretary is a person from one of the CPLP Member States, elected for a two-year term, which may be extended for a further two years, and through a nomination submitted in turn by the nine countries, in ascending alphabetical order. This year it was Angola's turn to present its candidate, according to information available on the CPLP's official website.
In addition to Angola, the CPLP member states include Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor.
