[1] In January 1980, he was appointed chief of staff to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Diogo Freitas do Amaral and, in February 1981, as head of the Office for International Political Bodies (Repartição dos Organismos Políticos Internacionais).

[1] In April 1993, he was promoted to the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary, and in December of that year, Corte-Real became the first Portuguese Ambassador in Kyiv, after Portugal had recognised the independence of Ukraine in 1992.

[4] When Diogo Freitas do Amaral was President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1995–1996, Corte-Real joined him, on secondment, again as his chief of staff.

[1] In 1998, after being promoted to the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary, First Class, in March, he served as Chief of Protocol of the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition.

[6] More recently, Corte-Real has led the "Missão para o Património" working group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the goal of studying and publishing the cultural heritage of the Necessidades Palace.