On February 15th, 2024, together with the Vice-Minister for ASEAN affairs, Milena Rangel, and the Minister of Trade and Industry, Filipus Nino Pereira, the European Union (EU) hosted the launch of the Regional Integration and Trade Project at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, in Dili. 
This project, with 3 million euros (US$ 3.23 million) funding, is being implemented by the International Trade Centre in partnership with the Government of Timor-Leste and aims to provide technical assistance and capacity building to Timor-Leste in the context of the accession processes to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Timor-Leste, represented by Vice-Prime Minister Francisco Kalbuady Lay, will sign the WTO accession protocol during the organisation’s 13th Ministerial Conference, which will occur between the 26th and 29th of this month in Abu Dhabi. 
During the launch, the Vice-Minister for ASEAN affairs, Milena Rangel, said that “Timor-Leste believes in the potential of trade as a driving force to promote economic growth and development, raise living standards, and promote the goal of stability, peace and good governance”.
The Deputy Managing Director of the Asia and Pacific Department of the European External Action Service of the European Union, Paola Pampaloni, stressed that the EU is committed to supporting “Timor-Leste in promoting sustainable development through economic diversification and the qualification of human resources”.
Paola Pampaloni’s visit is part of the first strategic partnership dialogue with Timor-Leste, following the signing of the Samoa agreement last November, which replaced the Cotonou agreement.