Timor-Leste President begins State visit to Vietnam

This visit by President Jose Ramos-Horta will be the fourth high-level visit to Vietnam and is an opportunity for the two sides to discuss measures to promote cooperation and deepen bilateral relations.

Head of the Office of the President Le Khanh Hai welcomed Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta at Noi Bai International Airport. (Photo: VNA)

On the evening of July 31, the President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Timor-Leste Jose Ramos-Horta arrived in Hanoi, starting a State visit to Vietnam from July 31 to August 3, at the invitation of President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam To Lam.

Welcoming the delegation at Noi Bai International Airport were Head of the Office of the President Le Khanh Hai; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet; Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor-Leste Ta Van Thong; Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Manh Quyen; and leaders and officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (Office of the President), the State Protocol Department, and the Department of Southeast Asia-South Asia-South Pacific (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Accompanying President Jose Ramos-Horta were: Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Minister of Tourism and Environment Francisco Kalbuadi Lay; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Bendito dos Santos Freitas; Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Forestry Marcos da Cruz; Minister of Social Communications Expedito Loro Dias Ximenes; Ambassador of Timor-Leste to Vietnam João Pereira; Lieutenant General Falur Rate Laek, Commander-in-Chief of the Ministry of National Defense; Lieutenant General Cristovão Tito da Costa, Senior Policy Advisor on Security and Defense to the President; Director General of the Bilateral Affairs Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Marcos dos Reis da Costa; Advisor on International Relations to the President Fun Ha Tchong.

President Jose Ramos-Horta was born on December 26, 1949 in Leorema, Bazartete. He holds a degree in Public International Law from the Hague Academy of International Law and in International Human Rights Law from the International Academy of Human Rights, Strasbourg; a Master's degree in Peace Studies from Antioch University of Ohio, USA. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.

From 1975 to 1999, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs and Information and spokesman for the Resistance Movement (a position in the first government of Timor-Leste established in December 1975 after declaring independence).

He was a member of the government, United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor from 2000 to 2002; Senior Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor-Leste from 2002 to 2006; Prime Minister, Minister of Defence of Timor-Leste from 2006 to 2007; President of Timor-Leste from 2007 to 2012. From 2012 to present, he is a member of the Council of State, Presidential Advisory Board of Timor-Leste; member of the State Council on Maritime Boundary Delimitation of Timor-Leste. He has been President of Timor-Leste since 2022.

Since establishing bilateral relations, Timor Leste has organized three official visits by high-ranking leaders to Vietnam, including: President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao (August 2005); President Jose Ramos-Horta (2010) and Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao (September 2013).

This visit by President Jose Ramos-Horta will be the fourth high-level visit to Vietnam and is an opportunity for the two sides to continue discussing measures to promote cooperation, deepen bilateral relations, thereby tightening the traditional friendship that has been nurtured over the past time.

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