Brasilia - The President of East Timor, José Ramos-Horta, invited on Monday the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, to visit the Asian country, within the framework of the reinforcement of bilateral cooperation.
The information was confirmed by President Ramos-Horta, in Brasilia, after a meeting with his Angolan counterpart, adding that the visit should take place as soon as the diplomatic missions agree on the date.
The Angolan Head of State João Lourenço and the East Timor President Ramos-Horta are in Brasilia, Brazil, where they witnessed the inauguration of the new Head of State, Lula da Silva, which was held on Sunday.
“I met with the President of Angola, I invited him to visit East Timor on a date to be agreed upon, at the first opportunity that the President has”, he said.
In a statement to the press, he expressed the desire to boost and expand diplomatic relations, consultations and agreements, as well as the search for greater cooperation.
To Ramos-Horta, Angola is a country of great inspiration and he recognises the support given, from the beginning, to his country's liberation struggle for independence.
“Personally, I worked very closely with the minister of Foreign Affairs, ambassadors to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in Brussels, in the European Union, and we always remember with great gratitude the support that Angola gave us, as well as other countries of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), as well as Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP)”, recalls the East Timor Head of State.
He stressed that East Timor has an active bilateral cooperation in the framework of the CPLP.
East Timor wants Angolan staff
As for cultural and linguistic aspects, Ramos-Horta said they are interested in expanding cooperation and regrets the small number of Angolans in East Timor.
Similarly to the human resources cooperation maintained with Cabo Verde, East Timor wants to open its doors to Angola, to make up for the difficulties in human resources.
“Another area that we could see is the support from Angola in the human resources sector, with the sending of Angolan staff in the country´s priority field”, he added.
As priority areas he pointed to the need for staff for public administration, in justice and for exchanges of experience in managing non-renewable resources.
Accession to ASEAN
With the adhesion of East Timor to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), foreseen for this year, to President Ramos-Horta a path is also opened for Angola related to trade expansion.
ASEAN is a joint market, with 700 million people, with a combined economy of four trillion dollars, as well as a purchasing power of USD 200 million from the middle and upper classes, besides the availability of a free trade agreement with Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea and Japan.
According to the negotiations being held, if East Timor enters the ASEAN, Ramos-Horta said his country could be a major platform for Angola´s business interests in the Southeast Asian region.
“It is a great opportunity for Angolan economic interests and those of other CPLP countries, such as Portugal and Brazil”, he said.
Angola/East Timor cooperation
In June 2011, both countries signed two cooperation agreements in the areas of military technical assistance and oil.
At the time, Angola was willing to provide technical assistance to the Asian country in the oil and gas sector.
