Ana Isabel Xavier is Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in the Government of the Portuguese Republic.
Before that, she served as Secretary of State for National Defense (April 2024 to June 2025); Associate Professor at Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa (UAL); Visiting Professor at Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa; Integrated Researcher at the Centre for International Studies (CEI-Iscte); Researcher at CISD-IUM – Centro de Investigação em Segurança e Defesa of the Portuguese Military University Institute.
She also served as Deputy Director-General for National Defence Policy; President of the Board of the Association of Auditors of National Defence Courses; President of the Board of DECIDE - Association of Young Auditors for Defence, Security and Citizenship.
Ms. Xavier holds a PhD in International Relations from the Faculty of Economics
of the University of Coimbra; a Master's degree in Sociology of Development and Social Transformation (2006) and a degree in International Relations (2003) from the same Faculty.
She also holds a postgraduate degree (2005) in Human Rights and Democratization from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra.