The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Bendito dos Santos Freitas, accompanied by the Vice Minister for ASEAN Affairs, Milena Rangel, took part in the signing ceremony of the cooperation and implementation agreements of the project between Timor-Leste and Brazil for a master’s degree in education at the National University of Timor Lorosa’e (UNTL-Portuguese acronym). The ceremony took place at the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation on August 18th, 2023. 
The technical cooperation agreement was signed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Bendito Freitas and the Ambassador of the Federative Republic of Brazil to Timor-Leste, Maurício Medeiros de Assis. The project implementation agreement was signed by the Rector of UNTL, João Soares Martins and Ambassador Maurício Medeiros de Assis.
This project entails collaboration between the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC- Portuguese acronym) in Brazil and UNTL for the implementation of a Master’s degree programme in education at the Timorese University, which involves UFSC lecturers coming to Timor-Leste for two years to teach at the Master’s degree programme. The project also involves Timorese teachers going to Brazil for training. 