Ambassador Manuel Lobo Antunes took up his duties as Permanent Representative of Portugal to the OECD on 29 March 2022.

Mr. Lobo Antunes is a career diplomat who joined the Diplomatic Service in 1983 and took up his first overseas posting as a Secretary in the Portuguese Mission to The Hague, before being sent to Harare, Zimbabwe as a Counsellor.

In 1996, he became Director for Sub-Saharan African Affairs, and held various other positions in the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs including Diplomatic Adviser the President of the Republic (1984-1986) and to the Prime Minister (2001-2002), Alternate Member at the Convention on the Future of Europe (2002) and Director General for European Affairs (2004-2005). In 2005, he was appointed as Secretary of State for National Defense and the Sea before becoming Secretary of State for European Affairs in 2006.

In 2008, Mr. Lobo Antunes became Permanent Representative of Portugal to the European Union and was later appointed as Ambassador to Italy (2012) and Ambassador to the United Kingdom (2016).

Mr. Lobo Antunes is Commander of the Order of Merit and a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Order of Infante D. Henrique of Portugal.