João Cravinho served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the XXIII Government of Prime Minister António Costa (2022–2024) and as Minister of National Defense in Portugal’s XXI Constitutional Government. Previously, he held key diplomatic roles as European Union Ambassador to Brazil (2015–2018) and EU Ambassador to India (2011–2015). Between March 2005 and June 2011, he was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Portugal’s XVII and XVIII Constitutional Governments.

Before entering government, Cravinho pursued an academic career as a Professor of International Relations at the University of Coimbra’s Faculty of Economics and as a Visiting Professor at ISCTE and the Nova University of Lisbon’s School of Law. He also served as an advisor to the Portuguese National Defense Institute, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the European Commission, and the World Bank.

In 1999, he acted as rapporteur for the Judicial Sector in the World Bank’s Joint Assessment Mission for East Timor and coordinated an international observer mission during Timor-Leste’s popular consultation.

Cravinho holds a DPhil in Political Science from the University of Oxford, as well as an MSc and a BA from the London School of Economics.