Jakarta (VNA) –Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor Leste Pham Vinh Quang presented hiscredentials to President of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste FranciscoGuterres in the capital city of Dili on March 1.

At the reception, PresidentGuterres affirmed that Timor Leste treasures its friendship and cooperationwith Vietnam, having not forgotten that Vietnam was one of the first countriesto recognise his country’s independence while continuing to support it innational development to this day.

He hoped that bilateral tieswould thrive in diverse areas and accepted Party General Secretary andPresident Nguyen Phu Trong’s invitation to visit Vietnam at an appropriatetime.

The President said he will hold aworking session with Timor Leste Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak next week todiscuss specific measures to boost bilateral cooperation as suggested by theambassador.

He hoped that the ambassadorwould have a successful tenure and make positive contributions to furtherdeveloping the bilateral friendship.

Quang, for his part, vowed towork closely with Timor Leste’s ministries and agencies to step up practicaland multifaceted ties, including facilitating all-level visits, establishingcooperation mechanisms, and promoting trade and investment, as well as tiesacross the fields of telecommunications, agriculture, tourism, aquaculture, andoil and gas.

Vietnam is willing to sendexperts to Timor Leste to share experiences in agriculture, he said, addingthat Vietnam will also continue exporting rice and expand the rice export quotato the country to 200,000 tonnes per year.

The diplomat asked the TimorLeste government to continue providing favourable conditions for Vietnamesenationals living in the country and support Vietnamese firms in theiroperations, especially the military-run telecom provider Viettel’s Telemor.

Speaking highly of mutual liaisonat regional and global forums, Quang thanked Timor Leste for supportingVietnam’s bid to run for a non-permanent membership of the United NationsSecurity Council for the 2020-2021 tenure.

As ASEAN Chair in 2020, Vietnamwill facilitate consensus among other ASEAN member states and the Secretariat topush forward Timor Leste’s entry to the association, he said.

The ambassador later paid acourtesy call to Minister of Education, Youth, and Sport Dulce de Jesus Soaresto discuss specific ways to reinforce bilateral links in the near future.

Meeting the Vietnamese communityin Timor Leste the same day, he vowed his utmost efforts to protect theirlegitimate rights and interests.–VNA