Date of creation : 1998
President: General Luis Valença Pinto
Vice President : Professor Nuno Gama de Oliveira Pinto
Secretary-general : Agostinho Paiva da Cunha
Email : geral@eurodefense.pt
Phone number : +351 21 30 27 207
The President
General Luis Valença Pinto is a retired Portuguese Army officer. He was born in Lisbon in 1946.
During his military career he served in a number of assignments, including Chief of Defense Portugal, Chief of the Army, Army Logistics Commander, Director of the National Defense Institute, National Military Representative at the Supreme Allied Headquarters, Commander of the Engineer School, and Defense Counsellor in the Portuguese Delegation to NATO and the WEU. He was also Professor of Strategy and Geopolitics at the Institute of Military High Studies. As Chief of Defense Portugal (2006-2011), he was the Portuguese member in the Military Committees of NATO and of the European Union.
As a Junior Officer he served in two combat tours in Angola (1971-1972 and 1973-1975).
Since concluding his active service in the armed forces, he has held positions in academia and is currently Invited Full Professor at the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa and an Integrated Researcher in its research unit in International Relations, OBSERVARE.
His main areas of specialization are Security and Defense, Strategy, NATO, the European Union CSDP and African Security.
He has published more than one hundred academic studies, book chapters and articles, mostly on security and defense issues, and he is a regular speaker at universities and other institutions in Portugal and abroad.
He is actively involved with and has responsibilities in several cultural, scientific and social organizations.
He is married to Ângela Valença Pinto. Together they have 6 children and 17 grandchildren.
The Vice President
Professor Nuno Gama de Oliveira Pinto holds a Doctorate in Management and a Master’s Degree in European Politics.
He is a University Professor and Senior Researcher at the Centre for International Studies (ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon), and at the Portuguese Institute of International Relations (Nova University Lisbon). An expert on European Union technical assistance and external aid missions, and a member of the Trans European Policy Studies Association, he is the author of several books, essays, and articles on the European economy, international economic relations, and global governance.
With extensive professional experience in international organizations, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Institute of Management Consultants, and of the Editorial Board of the Revista Portuguesa e Brasileira de Gestão, published by INDEG-ISCTE Executive Education and the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (Brazil).
The Secretary General
Agostinho Paiva da Cunha holds a Doctorate in Political Science and a Master’s Degree in International Relations.
He is a retired army colonel specialized in strategic planning, defense policy and security areas. He has been Secretary and Treasurer at the Directors board of the Portuguese NATO Defense College Association since 2014 and is a former faculty adviser at the NATO Defense College, in Rome.
With a vast experience in a wide range of subjects related to research, management and operations in multinational environments, his background includes having held positions in military and civilian security and defense organizations such as in NATO Headquarters in Kosovo KFOR and B&H where was a strategic operations planner and at the European Union where he was faculty adviser and researcher at the European Security and Defense College, permanent member of its Executive Academic Board (EAB), along with in the Portuguese Defense Institute (IDN), being in charge of the external relations areas.
He held various teaching, command and management positions in his homeland Army and at the national Armed Forces Headquarters throughout his working life and performed as military advisor for high entities such the Portuguese Chief of Defense and to the Angolan Chief of the Army Staff, taught in the Angolan High Institute for Military Education (ISEM), and was the Portuguese military adviser for building up São Tomé e Principe Army’s Military Education Center capability.
He has published several thematic articles and guidebooks in national and foreign magazines on NATO security and defense and European affairs.