José Maria Neves

In 1989, he became member of the PAICV party. As a candidate for the party leadership at PAICV's September 1997 congress, he faced Pedro Pires;[5] Pires defeated Neves in the leadership election, winning 68% of the vote.[6] In May 2000, Neves—then serving as President of the Santa Catarina Town Council—announced that he would seek the PAICV presidency again at the June 2000 party congress; Pires was leaving the PAICV presidency in anticipation of his candidacy in the next year's national presidential election.[7]

After he became Prime Minister, he established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. In 2002, he signed a "special treaty" with the European Union, it was discussed on 15 November 2005.[8] In addition, a meeting with the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries) was held in November 2002. He also met Alamara Nhassé, Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau. He held additional portfolio of Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2004.[9]

From August 12 to August 16, 2005, he visited eight state capitals of Brazil including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Goiânia, Recife, Maceió, João Pessoa, Natal and Fortaleza. He also received an audience from Brazilian President Lula da Silva on August 22.

He won the 2006 parliamentary election on January 22 with 52.28% of the votes and got 41 seats.[10] and on March 7, he served his second term as Prime Minister.[11] The World Bank and the IMF judged favorably on its economic and financial policies.

While acknowledging the harmful effects of slavery and colonialism on Africa, Neves said in December 2006 that African leaders were primarily responsible for the continent's present-day problems, and that they "must assume their responsibility to develop a clear strategy for Africa's future that takes advantage of all of its human capabilities and natural resources."[12] Neves is a supporter of European Union membership for Cape Verde.

On 2 January 2007, he wanted to make Cape Verde a special status with ECOWAS.[13]

A new government under Neves was announced on June 27, 2008, with six ministers joining the government and four ministers leaving it. Three of the new ministers were women, making it the first government in Cape Verde with a female majority (eight out of 15 portfolios).[14]

On August 14, 2009, he met the then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who finished her visit to Africa at Cape Verde.

On 6 February 2011, he was elected to his third term by most Cape Verdean voters with 52.68% over MpD and 38 out of 72 seats, thus reinforcing his party's influence in the Cape Verdean parliament.[15]

On March 28, 2013, the Prime Minister visited the Pentagon south of Washington D.C. as the US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel hosted an honor cordon along with the Sierra Leonean President Bai Koroma, the Senegalese President Macky Sall and the Malawian President Joyce Banda. This was the first ever Cape Verdean leader who met a Sierra Leonean mand Malawian presidents.

He visited a trading conference, the 4th Global Review of Aid for Trade in from 8 to 10 July 2013.

On 6 September 2014, he announced another government. Janira Hopffer Almada succeeded Neves as president of the parliamentary section of the PAICV party. After the 2016 parliamentary elections on 22 April, he was succeeded by Ulisses Correia e Silva as Prime Minister.[16][17]

Neves is also author of books and some news articles. Some of these were published in other African countries and in parts of Europe and in Brazil. He wrote:

• Ensaios sobre la Adminstrativa de la Ciência Política (Essyas on the Administrative of Political Sciences)
• A Teória de la Administração Pública em Cabo Verde (A Theory on Public Administration in Cape Verde)
• Princípios sobre a Administração Pública em Cabo Verde no Século XXI (Principles on Public Administration in Cape Verde in the 21st Century)
• O Estado e a Administração Pública em Cabo Verde (The State and the Public Administration in Cape Verde)
• Administração Pública no Concelho do Santa Catarina (Public Administration in the Municipality of Santa Catarina)
• O Estado na Era da Modernização no Cabo Verde. (The State in the Modernization Age in Cape Verde)
• Uma Agenda de Transformação para Cabo Verde (A Transformation Agenda for Cape Verde)
• Cabo Verde - Gestão das Impossibilidades (Cape Verde - Management of Impossibilities)
• Um Futuro a Construir, em co-autoria com Francisco Pinto Balsemão. (A Future to Build), with Francisco Pinto Balsemão as the co-author