HCMC – Vietnam is willing to continue supplying rice and helping Timor-Leste ensure food security, said Vietnam’s State President To Lam during talks with Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta today, August 1.
During the talks at the Presidential Palace, President To Lam and President José Ramos-Horta highlighted the progress in bilateral relations.
High-level exchanges and contacts have been effectively maintained between Vietnam and Timor-Leste. Meanwhile, two-way trade is expected to exceed US$15.9 million. The effective investment and business activities of Viettel Group (Telemor) have positively contributed to the socio-economic development of Timor-Leste.
Discussing major cooperation directions for the future, both sides agreed to enhance high-level exchanges and contacts at all levels and explore the establishment of new bilateral mechanisms that align with the cooperation needs of both countries.
While affirming that Vietnam is willing to continue supplying rice to help Timor-Leste ensure food security, President To Lam proposed extending or signing a new memorandum of understanding on rice trade. He also encouraged Timor-Leste to increase imports of high-quality Vietnamese products, such as textiles, footwear, beverages, dairy products, processed foods, and agricultural and aquatic products.
He called upon Timor-Leste to promptly ratify the Bilateral Trade Agreement and facilitate business expansion and investment opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises in the country.
In response, President José Ramos-Horta agreed to work closely with Vietnam to bring about new developments in economic, trade, and investment cooperation. He expressed hopes that Vietnam will continue sharing its experience and supporting Timor-Leste in developing human resources, ensuring food security, and alleviating poverty.
Both sides also agreed to leverage cooperation potential in other important areas, especially agriculture, fisheries, telecommunications, education, oil and gas, infrastructure development, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.
President of Timor-Leste José Ramos-Horta is in Vietnam for a state visit from July 31 to August 3, at the invitation of President To Lam.
