On February 3rd, 2025, the Ministry of Transport and Communications signed a contract to provide consultancy services with the Consortium Japan Airport Consultants, Ehira Architects and Engineers, Oriental Consultants Global and Nippon Koei, Ltd. as part of the rehabilitation project for the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport. 
The contract signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications building in Dili and was witnessed by the Minister of Transportation and Communications, Miguel Marques Gonçalves Manetelu, the Japanese Ambassador to Timor-Leste, Tetsuya Kimura, and the representative of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Timor-Leste, Ito Mimpei. 
The contract signed aims to draw up the engineering execution project for the construction of the new passenger terminal, with a view to modernizing the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport, to ensure improved passenger service capacity and compliance with international standards of airport safety and operation. 
Minister Miguel Manetelu highlighted the importance of this project for the country’s economic development and connectivity, saying that “this contract represents a decisive step in fulfilling the government’s commitment to improving the airport infrastructure and strengthening Timor-Leste’s connection with the world. The completion of this project will allow us to move on to the construction of the passenger terminal.”
Ambassador Tetsuya Kimura reaffirmed Japan’s commitment to supporting the modernization of the Timorese civil aviation sector, expressing his country’s satisfaction “in contributing to the improvement of Timor-Leste’s air access through the construction of a new, modern passenger terminal. Today’s ceremony symbolizes the joint efforts to move forward with this important project”.
JICA’s Representative in Timor-Leste, Ito Mimpei, emphasized that this investment “is not limited to improving infrastructure, but also represents a commitment to improving connectivity and creating economic opportunities for the population”. He also said that given that “Timor-Leste is on its way to becoming a full member of ASEAN”, ‘this project will contribute significantly to the country’s membership by aligning Timor-Leste’s infrastructure with regional standards”.
As stated in the Programmed of the IX Constitutional Government, air transport “plays a crucial role in the development of our tourism, trade and business industry”, in this sense “to enable a more reliable air service between Timor-Leste and regional and international destinations” and “to meet the growing increase in passengers, the planned improvements to the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport will be implemented”, because “investing in air transport is fundamental to meet the future demand for air traffic, associated with the country’s economic growth”.