Adaljíza Magno

Adaljiza Albertina Xavier Reis Magno (born 7 January 1975) is an East Timorese politician and diplomat, and a member of the Fretilin political party.

From June 2020 to July 2023, she was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, serving in the VIII Constitutional Government of East Timor led by Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak.

Previously, she served several terms as Vice Minister in that portfolio, and briefly, in 2007, as acting Minister. She has also been the East Timorese Ambassador to Singapore.

Early life and career Magno was born in Baguia, in the then Portuguese Timor, to Ana Xavier G. Magno and Alberto dos Reis Magno. Eleven months after her birth, Indonesia began its occupation of East Timor. Magno's family fled to Mount Matebian, a centre of the Fretilin resistance against the occupiers. The family lived on the run for four years before returning to Baguia in 1979. In 1980, the family surrendered to the Indonesian army because its members were in danger of starvation.

Magno attended primary school from 1982 to 1987, pre-secondary school from 1987 to 1990 and secondary school in Dili from 1990 to 1993. She graduated from the Sebelas Maret University (UNS) in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, with a degree in economics.

Upon the restructuring of the I Constitutional Government, led by Mari Alkatiri, in July 2005, Magno was appointed as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. At 30 years of age, she became the youngest member of that government. She left that office on 8 August 2007, upon the formation of the IV Constitutional Government.

During the short period, between 19 May and 8 August 2007, when the transitional III Constitutional Government, led by Estanislau da Silva, was in power, Magno served not only as Vice Minister, She was also the 60th candidate on the Fretilin list for the 2007 Parliamentary election, but was not elected, as Fretilin won only 21 seats in the election.

While serving in public offices between 2002 and 2007, Magno was also a board member of two civil society organisations, HAK and FOKUPERS. In 2007, she represented those organizations at the 3rd East Timor donors meeting in Canberra, Australia. In 2014 and 2015, she was a member of East Timor's delegation to the Preparatory Commission for the 10th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), which was held in Dili in July 2014, and an Adviser (Conceptual) to the CPLP's Presidential Support Office. On 2 October 2017, she was reappointed as Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, in the VII Constitutional Government led by Mari Alkatiri. Her swearing-in did not take place the following day alongside that of most of the other members of the new government, because she was still in Singapore. On 17 October 2017, she was finally sworn in. Her renewed tenure as Vice Minister ended with the formation of the VIII Constitutional Government on 22 June 2018.

Magno with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in 2022 Two years later, on 24 June 2020, following a change in the governing coalition, and the admission of Fretilin to the VIII Constitutional Government, Magno was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Magno's tenure as Minister ended when the IX Constitutional Government took office on 1 July 2023. She was succeeded by Bendito Freitas.

Personal life Magno is fluent in Tetum, Portuguese, Makasae (a Papuan language spoken in her native municipality of Baucau), Indonesian, and English.

In October 2003, she married Rosantino Amado Hei dos Anjos. The couple has a daughter and a son.