This version updated 9 April, 2004
Early lusophone activities
Before being appointed President of the Tropical Research Institute (IICT) on 5 February 2004,  I had run its Center for Social Economics since 23 October 1985, as described below.

In early 1986 I led a mission to Guinea Bissau sponsored by UNDP, and another to São Tome, joint with the Bank of Portugal. I participated in the first World Bank mission to Angola in 1987, and CSE contributed the chapter on the colonial economy to the accession report. The possiblity of fixed exchange rate agreements with Guinea Bissau and São Tome was also studied at CSE, under sponsorship of the Institute of Economic Cooperation, now Instituto da Cooperação Portuguesa (ICP).

In December 1986, I was invited to the first Presidencial visit to São Tome and Cape Verde of Mario Soares. Following up on this visit I promoted in the premises of CSE between 1986 and 1988 a series of meetings of Portuguese entrepreneurs interested in Africa which culminated in the creation of ELO. I also negotiated the involvement of the Confederation of Portuguese Industry (CIP) in ELO, which represents Portugal in the so-called Group of Seven, an association of similar agencies from various European countries.

Francisco Mantero, who was also involved in the creation of ELO, intervened in the 1992 Plenary Meeting of the Trilateral Commission in Lisbon to report on the Charter of Principles whose observance the European private sector deems essential for sustained economic and social development in Africa. The charter covers government macroeconomic policy, commercial policy, tax policy, and exchange regulations. It stresses adequate infrastructures, public adminsitartion and legislation, together with the importance of clear and attractive foreign investment codes, of joining institutions such as MIGA and proper functioning of local courts. This Charter was unanimously approved by the Group of Seven and remains a basic document for business operation in the tropics.

In a joint venture with IICT's Center for African and Asian Studies and with African specialists at ISCTE, CSE organized an international conference on "Development and Underdevelopment in Africa: Theories, Ideologies, Policies and Processes". Bloc II, on policies, which was my responsibility, was published in the International Journal of African Studies, nº 10-11, 1989, pp. 129-202 (entry nº 102)

CSE also promoted the reprint of José de Macedo's Autonomy of Angola, published in 1910, with a preface by Jorge Borges de Macedo.

I was on public service leave from 1988 to 1994. After my return there were evaluation missions of European institutions to IICT in which CSE participated actively. In 1996, I was asked by ICP to explore cooperation possibilities with Zaire involving a combination of bilateral and multilateral institutions but the mission never got off the ground.

During these years I carried out a research project on the allegiances of the Portuguese which was later published in a book titled Bem Comum dos Portugueses with the partial support of IICT.