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.