Minister of Defence visits National Defence Academy in Japan
The Minister of Defence, Cirilo Cristovão, travelled to Japan on March 19th to follow closely the progress of the F-FDTL members, who are studying at the National Defence Academy in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.
The Minister, accompanied by his delegation, was received by the President of the Academy and during the meeting with the Timorese students, stated that “our visit consists essentially in evaluate your performance and progress, as students of this institution. This first group of trainees will open the doors to strengthening the cooperation between the Timorese and the Japanese Governments, in the area of military training.”
Jonato Filomeno Long, Timorese student of Information and Technology, expressed his satisfaction to take this opportunity to acquire new scientific knowledge, and higlighted the difficulties about the use of an unknown language.
The Chief of General Staff of F-FDTL, Colonel Falur Rate Laek, who was part of the delegation, clarified that “the Government, through the Ministry of Defence, prepared the candidates through a six month Japanese language course in Bali, Indonesia, before sending them to this training program.”
The eleven members of the F-FDTL, who attend the course in the National Defence Academy of Japan, are enroled on the following training areas: civil construction, shipbuilding, information and technology and mechanics.
In addition to the Minister of Defence, Cirilo Cristovão, the Timorese delegation also included the Chief of General Staff of F-FDTL, the Ambassador of Timor-Leste in Japan and the National Director of Strategic Planning for International Politics (DNPEPI) of the Ministry of Defence.
