Secretary of State for Social Communication receives the Portuguese Secretary of State for Cooperation
The Secretary of State for Social Communication, Nélio Isaac Sarmento, welcomed the Portuguese Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Teresa Ribeiro, in the training room of the Language Office for Journalists, in Quintal Boot, in Dili, on February 2nd, 2017.
Nélio Isaac Sarmento stated that the objective of the visit of the Secretary of State was to directly observe the progress of the cooperation between the Governments of Timor-Leste and Portugal in the area of Social Communication, which began in 2007. In the years since then the Portuguese Government has also assisted in the construction of several transmission towers in the capitals of six municipalities and given support in the legal area to the Radio Television of Timor-Leste – RTTL, including the drafting of the Social Communication Law and training in the Portuguese language.
The Secretary of State for Social Communication also emphasized that this visit serves to strengthen the cooperation between the two 
nations. Nélio Isaac Sarmento announced that he spoke with the Secretary of State on some opportunities for further cooperation, particularly in the area of the Portuguese language, as well as on support to improve programmes in Portuguese on the radio and the television of Timor-Leste.
Secretary Sarmento considered that it is necessary to invest the budget in human resources training, mainly in the area of Social Communication. To achieve this, it is necessary to give training to journalists within and outside the country, and maintain the special language focused training, which is currently in progress.
Teresa Ribeiro stated that it is a necessary to talk with Timorese authorities, to understand what is most important in the cooperation between both nations. She said that she had been impressed with what she saw, particularly the Secretary of State for Social Communication’s political commitment. She was also pleased with the progress that has been achieved within the project of the Language Office: “I know that, here, you have great will to expand this project, because you have many candidates who want to follow the training. This shows that I come at the right time to respond to your needs. Portugal is pleased to be able to contribute to the development of Timor-Leste’s activities, namely this project.”
The Secretary Sarmento encouraged journalists to learn in Portuguese, so that radios and the newspapers may be able to speak and write in Portuguese within two or three years. Today, we already see that the penultimate page in newspapers in Timor-Leste is already written in Portuguese. It is expected that in the next two years the first pages may already be written in Portuguese. If this happens, it is a good step forward so that one day many may speak in Portuguese.
Teresa Ribeiro was accompanied by the Ambassador of Portugal in Timor-Leste, Manuel António Gonçalves de Jesus, the President of the Camões Institute, Ana Paula Laborinho, the Vice Secretary of State, João Albuquerque, and the Cooperation Attaché at the Embassy of Portugal in Dili, Daniela Pereira.
