Pedro Pires, president of Cape Verde, as well as having led the delegations that negotiated the independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde with the Portuguese government, was later the driving force behind the splitting off of the Cape Verdean component of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) leading to the creation of the PAICV.

        Born in April 1934 in Sao Filipe, on Fogo Island , Pedro Pires,

        After finishing his high-school studies in Cape Verde he traveled to Portugal to study at the Lisbon Faculty of Science. However, he was recruited into the Air Force. In Lisbon he socialized with students from other Portuguese colonies. The development of African nationalism and the beginning of the armed struggle in Angola led Pedro Pires to leave the country to join the PAIGC.

        After his meeting with legendary leader Amílcar Cabral, Pedro Pires worked in France and in Senegal , mobilizing Cape Verdeans to join the armed struggle. He received military training in Cuba and the former Soviet Union . With the unilateral declaration of independence of Guinea Bissau in September 1973 he became part of the first Guinean government.

        After the independence of Cape Verde , in July 1975, he was elected as a member of parliament and chosen to lead the first government.

        He was the prime minister of Cape Verde for three consecutive terms. In February 1990 he focused on implementing a multi party system in Cape Verde . He lost the first democratic elections in January 1991. In 2000 he announced a move away from political active life and in September of that same year he announced his candidacy to the Presidency. He was elected to that position in February 2001, in the second round of elections.

        On February 12, 2006 Pedro Pires was re-elected for a second mandate with 50.98 percent of the vote, defeating his only adversary Carlos Veiga.

        José Maria Pereira Neves– Prime Minister

        Born in Santa Catarina, on Santiago Island , the prime minister of Cape Verde graduated in Public Administration from the School of Business Administration in Sao Paulo , Brazil .

        José Maria Pereira Neves, born in March 1960, returned to Cape Verde after completing his studies and began his political career when he was elected to parliament for the Santa Catarina constituency. In March 2000 he was elected as mayor of the Santa Catarina municipal council.

        In June 2000 he was elected president of the African party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) in June 2000, and subsequently led his party to victory in the January 2001. On February 1 he was instated as prime minister of the republic of Cape Verde . 

        Cristina Duarte – Minister of Finance and Public Administration

        The new minister of Finance and Public Administration, Cristina Duarte is an economics graduate form the Lisbon Technical University, and did an International MBA at Arizona University in the United States.

        She previously worked as coordinator of the Privatization Project Coordination Unit (UCP), was a consultant for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, was a consultant for the African Development Bank, Director General of the Ministry for Rural Development and Fisheries and was Vice-President of Citibank in Angola.
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Câmara Câmara de Comércio, Indústria e Turismo Portugal Cabo Verde
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Câmara de Comércio de Barlavento
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