DILI, 19 July 2025 (TATOLI) – The President of the Republic, Jose Ramos Horta called on the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) to prioritize food sovereignty as a vital path to sustainable development, while delivering a sharp rebuke of the global community’s failures.
During President Horta’s address at the XV CPLP Summit, he explained that climate change is severely impacting member nations, causing food insecurity through droughts and floods, a crisis compounded by an unjust international economic and political system.
The President strongly criticized what described as a global double standard, contrasting the swift, massive financial mobilization to support Western banks and the war in Ukraine with the consistent neglect of developing nations. Ramos-Horta argued that the Global South has been burdened with crippling debt and that calls for relief from over 100 world leaders have been ignored and asserted that powerful development agencies have treated poorer countries as disposable, cutting vital programs that support women and children.
Horta detailed Timor-Leste’s significant progress since its independence, highlighted a dramatic increase in life expectancy, a rise from just 21 to 1,400 doctors, and the expansion of the national electricity grid to cover over 98% of the country and positioned Timor-Leste as a stable democracy poised to become a strategic economic bridge between the CPLP and the vast ASEAN market, citing major new investments in the country.
He urged the CPLP to take a stand on pressing international issues, calling for the recognition of the State of Palestine and describing the ongoing conflict as a genocide, advocated for reforms to the UN Security Council to create a more equitable global architecture and the head of state concluded by calling for stronger cooperation within the CPLP on technology, youth entrepreneurship, and innovation, stressing that a united community is essential to build a resilient and dignified future.
TATOLI
