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The President of Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta, met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Dec. 8, part of a six-day state visit.

Busy day

PM Lee hosted President Ramos-Horta to an official lunch, which came after Ramos-Horta had an Orchid hybrid named after him, the Dendrobium José Ramos-Horta.

Also, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Timor-Leste, Ramos Hota planted a tree native to Timor-Leste at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

He was accompanied by Maliki Osman, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, who visited Timor-Leste in May 2022 to attend Ramos-Horta's inauguration.

Ramos-Horta delivered a lecture at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, where Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan gave the opening remarks.

President Halimah Yacob also hosted Ramos-Horta to a State Banquet on Dec. 8.

Eleventh member

This was the first ever state visit to Singapore by a President of Timor-Leste, and it comes as the country was been given in-principle support to become Asean's 11th member during a summit in November.

Timor-Leste's membership of Asean had been delayed over several years, as some members had raised concerns about whether the nation had the capacity to meet its obligations as an Asean member, obligations which Fulcrum described as "onerous".

PM Lee reaffirmed Singapore's in-principle support for Timor-Leste's membership, and in order to help the nation build its capacity, Singapore will launch the "Singapore-Timor-Leste Asean Readiness Support" (STARS) package.

This will comprise two courses over two years for over 300 Timor-Leste officials in the areas of Asean knowledge and skills training, as well as education capacity building.

Freedom fighter

Ramos-Horta was one of a generation of freedom fighters that resisted Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste, then known as East Timor, before it gained independence in 1999.

Vivian, in his opening remarks, paid tribute to Singapore's and Timor-Leste's history, which pre-dates independence. Vivian said that Ramos-Horta reminded PM Lee and Halimah that Singapore had been the only Asean member to abstain on United Nations Resolution 3485 in 1975, a vote on the annexation of Timor Leste.

Vivian also noted that Singapore was amongst the first to contribute to the deployment of International Force East Timor. Singapore deployed medical teams, combat peacekeepers, logistics support and equipment from 1999 until 2012.

Vivian also paid tribute to Ramos-Horta himself, saying that a certain minister had once described him as an "unemployed agitator", but that the skills he had developed in that "role" had served him and his nation well.

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Top image via Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI)