Timor-Leste opened last week a pavilion in the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, the first national space to open after the second China International Import Expo (CIIE), Xinhua reports.

The Chinese government-run news agency quotes Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Group Co. Ltd President Liu Hong as saying the pavilion is a Sino-Timorese cooperative endeavour.

The report quotes Timorese Ambassador to China Benedito dos Santos Freitas as saying the pavilion is mutually beneficial and increases connections between ordinary Chinese and Timorese.

Mr Freitas said Timorese exhibitors had attended the latest CIIE, putting on cultural performances and showing off Timorese exports such as organically grown coffee, sandalwood, candlenut and handicrafts.

The landscape of Timor-Leste gives the country the potential to become a big draw for tourists, Xinhua quotes Timorese Democratic Party President Mariano Sabino Lopes as saying.