China has pledged to strengthen cooperation with Timor-Leste in green development – in areas such agriculture and fisheries, health, water conservancy, energy, education and poverty reduction, tourism, and digital economy.
Dr José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, embarked on a state visit to the People’s Republic of China from 28 – 31 July 2024, during which he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Timor-Leste and China committed to further deepening cooperation in four key areas: industry revitalization, infrastructure development, food security, and livelihood improvement.
China said it will strengthen cooperation with Timor-Leste in such areas as trade and investment, agriculture and fishery, health, water conservancy, energy, education and poverty reduction, expand cooperation on tourism, digital economy, green development and help Timor-Leste to achieve independent and sustainable development.
TIMOR-LESTE PRESIDENT SAYS TIES WITH CHINA “EXEMPLARY, EXCEPTIONAL”
President Ramos-Horta, during an interview with Chinese media CCTV Video News Agency, emphasized that the support Timor-Leste needs is not so much about funding, but rather his concern had been to seek greater technical support from China:
“China can help Timor-Leste tremendously with its know-how, expertise and experience. My concern has been to request for China to give us greater technical support to improve agriculture output, to ensure for us food sovereignty [security] to help us with water supplies, to help us with better seeds for agriculture, and to recover rain water that [floods] down the mountains along the way into the sea [taking] away top soil – [we need help on] how to retain this water for agriculture, for fish farming and so on.”
Both countries spoke highly of the achievements of Belt and Road cooperation and agreed to sign a BRI Cooperation Plan, a Civil Air Transport Agreement and an MOU on Strengthening Agricultural Cooperation.
In addition to President Xi Jinping, President José Ramos-Horta also also met with Premier Li Qiang, and Zhao Leji Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
The discussions that took place in Beijing during this visit continued the conversations held between the leaders last year (2023) when the two countries established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Watch video: https://youtu.be/XWwpGVZAKqc
Sources:
- CCTV Video News Agency, Aug 3, 2024. https://youtu.be/XWwpGVZAKqc
- Chinese Permanent Mission of to the UN , Beijing, 29 July 2024. ‘Joint Statement between the People’s Republic of China and the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.’ https://un.china-mission.gov.cn/…/t20240730_11462820.htm