Government of Timor-Leste

The Minister of Foreign Affairs from Singapore was in an official visit to Timor-Leste, from 17th to 22nd of August, where this was the first official visit to the country by a member of the Singaporean Government.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zacarias Albano da Costa referred that “the official visit to Timor-Leste by Minister George Yeo is essential for the strengthening of the diplomatic, economic and bilateral cooperation.”

During his stay in Timor-Leste, Minister George Yong-Boon Yeo met with the President of the Republic, José Ramos-Horta, made a courtesy visit to the President of the National Parliament, Fernando “Lasama” de Araújo, and to the Vice Prime Minister, José Luís Guterres, who at that time was acting Prime Minister.

On Wednesday night, Minister George Yeo and his delegation participated in a bilateral meeting in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the press conference, Zacarias Albano da Costa underlined that “we have participated together in several meetings where bilateral, regional, international and other issues were discussed, all related with our effort for the economic development of Timor-Leste. Besides this, we also spoke about aspects related to our cooperation, that is becoming stronger and we exchanged ideas about Timor-Leste’s preparation to be an ASEAN member.”

The Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, George Yong-Boong Yeo, while referring the cooperation area, clarified that “the support to Timor-Leste constitutes one of Singapore’s priorities. Singapore wants to see Timor-Leste succeed in its development in all areas, to show that countries with difficulties are also able to have success.”