The Prime Minister and Minister of Defence and Security, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, received Portugal’s Minister of National Defense, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco., on November 25th, at the Government Palace, in Díli.
The Portuguese Minister of Defence, received with military honors, thus started a two-day visit to Timor-Leste, on November 25th and 26th with a bilateral meeting with his counterpart, in which they addressed issues related with cooperation in the area of Defence, on-going since 2002.
At the end of the bilateral meeting, Xanana Gusmão and José Pedro Aguiar-Branco signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Portuguese Language Centre, which will be built at the Training and Practice Centre of the FALINTIL – Defence Forces of Timor-Leste (F-FDTL), in Metinaro.
This Memorandum of Understanding follows the Framework Program on Portuguese and Timorese Technical and Military Cooperation for 2014-2016, which was signed at the beginning of this year, in Lisbon, and aims at the promotion of teaching Portuguese language to military. Timor-Leste will fund the construction and equipment of the infrastructure and Portugal will be responsible for the programs and contents, as well as for the trainers and mentors.
Timor-Leste and Portugal also issued a joint communiqué, which you can consult here.
After the bilateral meeting, the Minister of National Defence, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco will also have, on his agenda for November 26th, a meeting with the President of the Republic, Taur Matan Ruak, and visits to the General Headquarters of F-FDTL and to the National Defense Institute.