Timor Leste President José Ramos-Horta begins Vietnam visit
VOV.VN - President José Ramos-Horta of Timor Leste arrived in Hanoi on July 31, beginning his four-day State visit to Vietnam at the invitation of President To Lam.
He was welcomed at Noi Bai International Airport by Chairman of the President’s Office Le Khanh Hai, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet, Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia concurrently Timor-Leste, Ta Van Thong, and other Vietnamese officials.
The Timor Leste president was accompanied by ministers in charge of foreign affairs, economic affairs, tourism and environment, agriculture, and communications and other officials.
Vietnam and Timor Leste signed a joint communiqué establishing diplomatic relations at the Ambassador level in July 2002. They have since conducted many high-level visits. Timor-Leste officially opened its Embassy in Hanoi in April 2012.
President José Ramos-Horta’s visit is the fourth by senior leaders of Timor Leste to Vietnam after the two sides established diplomatic ties. This is an opportunity for the two sides to discuss measures to promote cooperation and deepen bilateral relations, thereby tightening the traditional friendship that has been cultivated over the past decades.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor Leste Ta Van Thong said The State visit to Vietnam by President José Ramos-Horta will bring many strategic interests for both countries, contributing to strengthening bilateral cooperation in the coming time.
Two-way trade between Vietnam and Timor Leste remains modest, reaching US$15.861 million last year. Of the total, US$15.49 million was worth of Vietnamese exports, mainly rice and garments. The first five months of 2024 saw Vietnam rake in US$6.09 million from its exports to Timor Leste, an increase of 29.4% year on year.
According to the diplomat, there is much room for Vietnamese export products such as rice, processed foods, milk and milk products, shoes, beverages, household products, and electrical machinery and equipment to enter the Timor Leste market.
Meanwhile, Timor Leste’s potential products such as fuel, unprocessed wood, unprocessed seafood, minerals, and metals are important inputs for goods production in Vietnam. Closer economic cooperation will help both Timor Leste and Vietnam to engage more deeply in regional and global value chains.
Vietnam’s military-run telecom giant Viettel is successfully running its Telemor project in Timor Leste. From an initial investment capital of US$500,000 in 2012, Telemor now has a total investment capital of US$15 million.
The two sides are about to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on education cooperation, creating a basis for strengthening cooperative activities in the field. There are currently about 40 Timor Leste students studying in Vietnam, and the figure is expected to increase in the near future.
