Viet Nam willing to support Timor-Leste to soon become ASEAN member

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made the remarks at his meeting with Timor-Leste counterpart Taur Matan on the sidelines of the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, on May 11.

Pham congratulated Timor-Leste on its observer status of ASEAN, suggesting Timor-Leste create favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to do business in the country via addressing related legal issues. 

He urged Timor-Leste to soon ratify the bilateral trade agreement signed in 2013 and effectively implement the memorandum of understanding on rice trade inked in 2015. 

Timore-Leste treasures and expects to strengthen cooperation with Viet Nam, Taur Matan reiterated, announcing that Timore-Leste's President Jose Ramos-Horta hopes to soon pay a visit to Viet Nam. 

He expressed his delight on the effective and substantive cooperation between the two nations, particularly in telecommunications and education. 

Both sides vowed to promote all-level delegation exchange and effectively carry out signed agreements and create favorable conditions for their enterprises to do business in respective countries. 

They pledged to step up collaboration in fields of culture, tourism, education and people-to-people links and expand cooperation in other new sectors such as digital transformation, green growth and circular economy./.