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On October 9th, 2026, in Bangkok, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Miguel Marques Gonçalves Manetelu, met Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, to advance the finalisation of the Air Services Agreement between the two countries and to discuss the conditions for establishing direct flights between Dili and Bangkok.
The meeting took place as part of the official visit of Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão to Thailand and followed up on understandings reached between the Heads of Government of both countries on strengthening air connectivity.
During the meeting, the two sides agreed to expedite the necessary procedures to finalise the Air Services Agreement. Timor-Leste has completed all internal procedures and is ready to proceed with signing, while Thailand is still completing the required formalities.
Minister Miguel Manetelu stated that “the Government of Timor-Leste, through the Ministry of Transport and Communications, has completed all internal procedures and is ready to sign the agreement, in accordance with the requirements set by Thailand.”
The agreement will establish the framework for air links between the two countries, aimed at facilitating the movement of passengers and cargo and supporting trade, tourism, investment, and people-to-people contacts between Timor-Leste and Thailand.
Authorities from both countries will be able to begin technical discussions and operational preparations before the formal signing of the agreement. The eventual launch of a direct route between Dili and Bangkok will also depend on a commercial assessment and the decision of the airline interested in operating the service.
The Air Services Agreement was initialled by the civil aviation authorities of Timor-Leste and Thailand in April 2025. The text provides for airlines from both countries to operate services between Timor-Leste and Thailand, including through code-sharing agreements.
The agreement is scheduled to be formally signed in November or December 2026, on the sidelines of an ASEAN Transport Ministers’ Meeting in the Philippines.
During the meeting, participants also discussed cooperation in maritime and land transport, as well as human resource development through vocational training, exchange of experience, and technical capacity building. In civil aviation, the possibility of expanding Timor-Leste’s participation in regional programmes supported by the Asia and Pacific Office of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, headquartered in Bangkok, was examined.
Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport congratulated Timor-Leste on its accession to ASEAN. He expressed his country’s support for Timorese participation in regional transport cooperation mechanisms to strengthen connectivity among Member States.
The conclusion of the Air Services Agreement will build on bilateral cooperation in the transport sector and establish the framework for direct air links between Timor-Leste and Thailand.
Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão concluded his visit to Thailand, which took place from October 4th to 10th, 2026, and included an official programme on October 9th and 10th, at the invitation of Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. The talks between the two Heads of Government resulted in new commitments to cooperation in trade and investment, food security, transport, development cooperation, education, defence, and security, within the new context of bilateral relations following Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN.
This was the first official visit to Thailand by a Prime Minister of Timor-Leste since 2013 and the first since the country joined ASEAN in October 2025. The visit also preceded the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Timor-Leste and Thailand, to be marked in 2027.
On October 9th, Xanana Gusmão was received by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul at Government House in Bangkok for an official welcome ceremony, followed by bilateral talks, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, a joint press conference, and an official luncheon.
The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both countries, establishes a Bilateral Consultation Mechanism to monitor cooperation between Timor-Leste and Thailand, follow up on the outcomes of the visit, and identify new areas for joint work. The first round of consultations is expected to be held in Timor-Leste.
In the economic sector, the two Governments agreed to promote trade and investment and to strengthen ties between the private sectors of both countries. They identified agriculture and food processing, energy, infrastructure, tourism and hospitality, and the blue economy as areas with potential for greater cooperation and investment.
On food security, Thailand expressed its willingness to continue supporting Timor-Leste, and the two countries agreed to begin negotiations to finalise a Memorandum of Understanding on Rice Trade. Cooperation is also expected to cover trade in agricultural products, food processing, technical cooperation, and capacity building.
The two Heads of Government also agreed to accelerate the conclusion of the Air Services Agreement between Timor-Leste and Thailand to create the necessary conditions for establishing direct air links between the two countries. Improved air connectivity is expected to support economic relations, tourism, and people-to-people contacts.
On development cooperation, the parties agreed to hold the fourth Technical Cooperation Meeting later this year in Timor-Leste to finalise and adopt the 2026–2028 Triennial Development Cooperation Programme. The programme is expected to focus on sustainable agriculture, community development, public health and maternal healthcare, human resource development, and capacity building related to ASEAN.
The two Governments also agreed to accelerate the finalisation of two Memoranda of Understanding on cooperation in education and higher education, and to strengthen technical and vocational training in line with labour market needs.
During the talks, the parties also noted progress in establishing two maternal and child health centres in Timor-Leste as part of a project involving Thailand’s Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA), Timor-Leste’s Ministries of Finance and Health, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão expressed gratitude for Thailand’s support in training Timorese human resources. Since 2001, more than 800 scholarships and training opportunities have been made available to civil servants and students from Timor-Leste, worth approximately US$4 million.
In defence and security, the two countries agreed to strengthen military exchanges, training, capacity-building, and information sharing, and to cooperate to combat online fraud and other forms of transnational crime. A visit to Timor-Leste by the Chief of the Thai Defence Forces is also planned.
Thailand also agreed to join the Core Group of Strategic Partners for the INTERFET Memorial project and expressed its willingness to contribute archives, photographs, and testimonies from Thai military personnel who served in Timor-Leste. This cooperation builds on the ties established during Thailand’s participation in international operations in Timor-Leste from 1999.
At the regional level, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul reiterated Thailand’s support for Timor-Leste’s integration into the ASEAN Community and for strengthening national capacities, including preparations for a potential Timorese ASEAN Chairmanship in 2029. The two Heads of Government also reaffirmed their commitment to ASEAN centrality and to implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2045.
At the conclusion of the official programme on October 9th, Their Majesties King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida received Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão in audience at Dusit Palace in Bangkok.
The visit to Thailand also included additional activities before the official programme. On October 6th and 7th, the Prime Minister attended a seminar on the prudent and sustainable management of the Petroleum Fund, organised by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Timor-Leste (BCTL), which examined the Fund’s sustainability alongside fiscal and investment strategies.
On October 8th, the Head of Government met with executives from Thai Beverage Public Company Limited and the TCC Group to explore investment and economic cooperation opportunities, particularly in local production, tourism, retail, real estate, and logistics. Following the visit, Xanana Gusmão invited Thai business leaders to visit Timor-Leste to assess investment opportunities firsthand and to establish direct contacts with the Timorese private sector.
On the same day, the Prime Minister met with former Thai military personnel and officers who had participated in international missions in Timor-Leste, in a meeting dedicated to the historical relationship between the two countries and to Thailand’s contribution to peacekeeping and consolidation.
At the end of the visit, the Thai Prime Minister expressed interest in visiting Timor-Leste. Xanana Gusmão announced that he would send an official invitation to his counterpart to visit Timor-Leste and participate in the celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the Restoration of Independence on May 20th, 2027.
The Prime Minister and the delegation returned to Dili on October 11th, after concluding their visit to Thailand.
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On October 8th, 2026, in Dili, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Forestry, Marcos da Cruz, met the Ambassador of Vietnam to Timor-Leste, Pham Binh Dam, to discuss concrete areas of cooperation in the agricultural and fisheries sectors and to prepare for the first meeting of the Vietnam–Timor-Leste Joint Commission.
The meeting built on the understandings reached during Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão’s official visit to Vietnam in June this year, when the two countries agreed to promote cooperation in rice, agricultural products, and fisheries, among other sectors.
In the agricultural sector, the two sides identified opportunities for cooperation in rice and coffee production, covering varieties, cultivation techniques, equipment, and human resource training. The possibility of exploring cooperation models involving international organisations and development partners was also discussed.
In the fisheries and maritime economy sector, the two sides explored opportunities for cooperation in aquaculture, fishing, shipbuilding, fish processing, fisheries infrastructure development, and human resource training.
The meeting also addressed the use of digital technologies to monitor fishing activities and trace products, and cooperation to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
Minister Marcos da Cruz expressed openness to Vietnamese companies participating in investment projects in Timor-Leste’s fisheries and processing sectors, with technology transfer and human resource training. The Minister proposed that interested companies maintain direct contact with the Ministry’s competent services to analyse the projects and their feasibility.
The two sides also discussed preparations for the first meeting of the Vietnam–Timor-Leste Joint Commission, which will be co-chaired by the Foreign Ministers of both countries. This mechanism falls under the understandings reached by the two Governments to monitor the implementation of bilateral agreements and to identify new areas of cooperation.
As part of these preparations, the finalisation of the draft Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the fisheries sector and the development of cooperation instruments for the agricultural sector are under review.
Timor-Leste and Vietnam will continue their technical and institutional contacts to define the priority areas, programmes, projects, and instruments for presentation within the framework of the Joint Commission.
On October 7th and 8th, 2026 in Manila, the Philippines, Timor-Leste’s Secretary of State for Electricity, Water and Sanitation, Santos Noronha, represented the country at the 44th ASEAN Energy Ministers’ Meeting (AMEM), where regional priorities for energy security, connectivity, resilience, and the energy transition were analysed.
The meeting took place under the Philippine ASEAN Chairmanship and the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation 2026–2030 (APAEC), which sets out the organisation’s sector priorities for the next five years.
In his address, the Secretary of State thanked the Member States’ Energy Ministers, the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC), the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), and sectoral bodies for their support for Timor-Leste’s integration into regional energy cooperation mechanisms.
In this context, Santos Noronha highlighted the recent integration of Electricity of Timor-Leste (EDTL, EP) into the Heads of ASEAN Power Utilities and Authorities (HAPUA), expressing Timor-Leste’s “sincere gratitude” to HAPUA, all ASEAN Member States, the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC), the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), and EDL Lao, in its capacity as HAPUA Chair, for their invaluable support and constructive guidance in facilitating the accession of Electricity of Timor-Leste (EDTL) to the HAPUA family at the 42nd HAPUA Council Meeting, held in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in September 2026.
During the ministerial meeting, the ASEAN Energy Ministers expressed their support for Timor-Leste’s accession to regional energy cooperation instruments, namely the ASEAN Petroleum Safety Agreement (APSA), the Memorandum of Understanding on the ASEAN Power Grid (APG), and the Memorandum of Understanding on the Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline (TAGP).
The Secretary of State said Timor-Leste is committed to concluding the accession process to these instruments later this year, following the completion of the necessary internal procedures and the deposit of the instruments of accession.
Timor-Leste’s participation in the 44th AMEM follows its accession to ASEAN as the 11th Member State and marks its first participation in this ministerial meeting as a full member of the organisation.
The Timorese delegation also included the President of the National Petroleum Authority, Gualdino da Carmo; the Director-General for Electricity, Water and Sanitation, Maria Arlinda; and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of EDTL, EP, Marito Ferreira.
The Manila meetings also included meetings between ASEAN officials and external partners, international organisations, and specialised energy sector bodies, as well as the ASEAN Energy Business Forum 2026. Discussions covered, among other topics, the implementation of the ASEAN Power Grid, energy security, investment, renewable energy, and the strengthening of regional cooperation in the energy sector.
On October 2nd, 2026, in Lisbon, Vice-Minister of Social Solidarity and Inclusion Céu Brites met with Portugal’s Secretary of State for Social Action and Inclusion, Clara Marques Mendes, to discuss policies and programmes for people with disabilities.
During the meeting, the two officials discussed support for independent living, data systems for people with disabilities, and the human resources required to deliver that support.
Vice-Minister Céu Brites highlighted improving data systems and developing human resources as key priorities for strengthening policies and services for people with disabilities.
Secretary of State Clara Marques Mendes presented Portugal’s experience in supporting independent living for people with disabilities. In this context, the Vice-Minister shared Timor-Leste’s experience through programmes that support self-sustaining economic activities, aimed at contributing to the economic independence of people with disabilities.
Following the meeting with the Secretary of State, the Vice-Minister and the Timorese delegation attended a technical meeting with Portuguese officials responsible for the rights of people with disabilities, during which programmes developed in Portugal to protect these rights were presented.
Timor-Leste has in place the National Action Plan for People with Disabilities 2021–2030, approved by Government Resolution No. 7/2022 of March 1st, which sets out the national framework for action in this area.