President of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste José Ramos-Horta arrives in Hanoi, starting a State visit to Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam and Timor Leste established diplomatic relations on July 28, 2002. Since then, the relationship between the two countries has developed positively on the basis of traditional friendship. The two sides maintain exchanges of delegations at all levels and high-level contacts, especially on the occasion of ASEAN conferences. Thereby, the two sides discuss and propose cooperation orientations in many fields. In order to promote economic cooperation, the two sides signed a number of documents, including the Framework Agreement on Technical and Economic Cooperation, the Trade Agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding on Rice Trade, etc. In 2023, bilateral trade turnover reached 15.9 million USD; In the first 5 months of 2024, it reached 6.1 million USD, an increase of 29.4% over the same period in 2023. Vietnam's main export items to Timor Leste are rice, in addition to consumer goods, processed foods... In 2023, Vietnam exported 15,320 tons of rice to Timor Leste, worth nearly 8.8 million USD. In the first 4 months of 2024, Timor Leste imported 3,866 tons of rice from Vietnam, worth nearly 2.6 million USD. Telemor, an investment project of the Military Industry-Telecoms Group (Viettel) in Timor Leste, is a typical example of investment and business cooperation between the two countries. Over the past 10 years, Telemor has achieved many achievements and become one of the leading telecommunications service providers in Timor Leste. Telemor's important contributions to the development of the telecommunications industry are highly appreciated by Timor Leste. In addition, the two countries also promote research and exploitation of potential areas of cooperation, such as agriculture, fisheries, oil and gas, infrastructure construction, textiles, education, tourism, people-to-people exchange, etc. The two countries' Ministries of Education agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to create a basis for enhancing cooperation activities between the two sides. In multilateral cooperation, the two countries continue to strengthen cooperation and coordinate their positions at regional and international forums and organizations. Timor Leste supports Vietnam's candidacy for international organizations, including the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term, the World Heritage Committee for the 2023-2027 term, and the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage for the 2022-2026 term. Timor Leste is in the process of joining ASEAN and in November 2022 was approved in principle to become the 11th member of the Association. Stemming from the tradition of friendship between the two countries, Vietnam has always strongly supported Timor Leste's efforts to join ASEAN. In coordinating to support Timor Leste to become an ASEAN member, Vietnam focuses on the field of training and capacity building, helping Timor Leste build a strong human resource foundation, promote sustainable development, and integrate into the region and the world. On that basis, Vietnam continues to work with member countries and the ASEAN Secretariat to support Timor Leste in preparing and enhancing capacity, creating favorable conditions for Timor Leste to officially join the Association. Taking place in the context of recent positive developments in Vietnam-Timor Leste relations, President José Ramos-Horta's visit is of great significance, aiming to continue to contribute to strengthening political trust and promoting more substantive and effective cooperation between the two countries in all aspects. The visit contributes to promoting cooperation between the two sides in areas of strength and mutual interest. By warmly welcoming President José Ramos-Horta, Vietnam continues to affirm its consistent policy of always attaching importance to relations with countries in the Southeast Asian region, including Timor Leste. Wishing President José Ramos-Horta's State visit to Vietnam a great success, contributing to further fostering the friendly relations and strengthening cooperation between Vietnam and Timor Leste.