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The prime minister of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmão, said in Dili on Tuesday that the country wanted to “draw from the experience, knowledge and innovation of the Portuguese” to develop a sustainable maritime economy.
Speaking at a dinner on the first official visit to Timor-Leste by Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa, Gusmão said that his new government wanted to define “a national policy for the blue economy”.
“From the sea, there is a whole set of sectors that present themselves as a potential instigator of sustainable development, from traditional sectors to the most recent sectors”, he added.
Gusmão recalled that “Portugal is also betting on the blue economy, not only to generate wealth for its population but to strengthen the climate and the ocean”.
“We would therefore like our strategy (…) to draw from the experience, knowledge and innovation of the Portuguese, sailing together to establish a sustainable blue economy in Timor-Leste,” Timor-Leste’s prime minister said.
“Our countries are small, but they grow exponentially when we look at the sea,” Gusmão noted.
Another goal of the new Timorese executive is decentralisation, and the head of government said that Portugal can also help in this area.
“The Portuguese experience in the field of public and municipal administration is a source of knowledge and excellence that we can absorb to move forward in this priority of ours,” Gusmão said.
In his inauguration speech on 1 July, the prime minister of Timor-Leste promised to advance the process of local government with a phased decentralisation of government and the creation of municipal assemblies.
This is the first official visit by a foreign head of government since the new Timorese executive took office on 1 July to the country of 1.3 million inhabitants and which ranks 140th in the United Nations Human Development Index.
On the agenda of the visit is scheduled, on Wednesday, a meeting with the speaker of parliament of Timor-Leste, Fernanda Lay, the first woman to hold the position.
Accompanying António Costa is the minister of labour, solidarity and social security, Ana Mendes Godinho, and the minister of foreign affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, who began an official visit to Southeast Asia on Monday, calling at Indonesia, Timor-Leste and the Philippines – all members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – to discuss the intensification of economic relations.
On Friday, Gomes Cravinho will be received by his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, to discuss the Philippines’ role as coordinator of relations between the European Union and ASEAN.
This will be the first time that a Portuguese diplomatic chief has travelled to the Philippines for a bilateral visit, with economic issues and the potential for cooperation in renewable energy being highlighted.
No jantar oficial oferecido pelo Primeiro-Ministro Xanana Gusmão, que contou também com a presença do Presidente Ramos Horta, senti que a ligação entre os nossos dois países é de verdadeira amizade e está cada vez mais forte. pic.twitter.com/Omk81rYIqe
— António Costa (@antoniocostapm) July 25, 2023
A visita ao Cemitério de Santa Cruz, em Díli, traz-nos à memória as imagens cruéis e violentas do inexplicável massacre de 1991. Presto a minha homenagem às vítimas. É preciso manter a memória viva. É preciso manter a chama da democracia e da liberdade acesa. pic.twitter.com/xARQVs65iB
— António Costa (@antoniocostapm) July 26, 2023
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