DILI, 25 july 2024 (TATOLI) – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Bendito dos Santos Freitas and his delegation on thursday, held a bilateral meeting with Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to further strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The bilateral meeting was held within the framework of the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at the Laos Convention Center in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
Minister Bendito considers, the bilateral meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov is a very historic meeting for Timor-Leste and addresses the issue of bilateral cooperation that Russia wants to give to Timor-Leste in areas such as education, defense and security, oil, training for diplomats and also offering visa-free to Timor-Leste.
In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Bendito Freitas, transmitted a message from the President of the Republic, José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão to Minister Sergey Lavrov about the war between Russia and Ukraine, and asked to sit down together to hold dialogue to end the conflict in the two countries, so as to bring back peace and welfare to the people and the country.
“Our Prime Minister, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão said, we can share our Timorese experience about the g7+, which the g7+ especially about our work, and initiatives for the consolidation of the democratic rule of law, peace building, state building, fragile nation experience that we through this intergovernmental organization to seek dialogue, consensus through negotiations all to bring back normality respect for the democratic rule of law,” said Minister Freitas in a statement.
In addition, Freitas also conveyed the message of the Head of State, José Ramos-Horta to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, and in the near future, will pay an official visit to Moscow, in order to further strengthen bilateral relations between Timor-Leste and Russia.
Russia is a Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council along with other countries such as the United States, China, France, and Britain, therefore, Timor-Leste’s bilateral relations with these five countries are very important, in order to substance strengthening bilateral cooperation with them.
The governor added that Russia appreciates Timor-Leste’s position at the level of multilateralism, because although it is small, but also a member of the United Nations and in the process of selecting a candidate and approving resolutions.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Filomeno Martins
