The Chairperson of the Committee for Constitutional Affairs and Justice of Timor-Leste’s National Parliament, Ms Carmelita Caetano Moniz, visited on September 2 the facilities of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao. She was accompanied by the Ambassador to China of Timor-Leste, Mr Bendito dos Santos Freitas.

Secretary General Ms Xu Yingzhen received the Timor-Leste delegation. The Representative of Timor-Leste to the Permanent Secretariat, Mr Danilo Henriques, also attended the meeting.

Secretary General Xu welcomed Committee Chairperson Ms Caetano Moniz and gave a brief presentation on the work done by the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, as well as on Macao’s role as a cooperation platform. She underscored the Permanent Secretariat’s commitment to strengthening economic and trade cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking Countries. In that regard – Ms Xu explained – Forum Macao had been carrying out numerous exchange activities in various areas, including economic and trade relations, human resources, tourism and culture.

Ms Xu noted that, as a developing country, Timor-Leste had huge potential for further cooperation with China. She took the opportunity to emphasise Forum Macao’s willingness to support Timor-Leste to make the most of Macao’s platform role and Forum Macao’s multilateral cooperation mechanism, in order to drive and boost cooperation between the country and China in various areas.

Committee Chairperson Ms Caetano Moniz thanked the Permanent Secretariat for its warm welcome, then made a presentation on the organisation and goals of the Committee for Constitutional Affairs and Justice. She said her visit to Macao aimed to boost cooperation and promote exchanges with Macao’s judicial and legislative bodies, namely by gaining further insight into the city’s legal framework regarding the requirement for public officials to declarate their assets and interests. This would help to further legislative work for an anti-corruption law in Timor-Leste. She also expressed her appreciation for Macao’s role as a platform to promote cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries.

During the meeting, the Representative of Timor-Leste to the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao gave a brief presentation on the background and history of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the mission of the Permanent Secretariat of Forum Macao, and the results achieved so far by the various Ministerial Conferences held since Forum Macao’s inception. He mentioned the numerous successful cooperation initiatives that China and Timor-Leste had been developing in various areas such as fisheries, infrastructure, education, health, tourism, and culture. Mr Henriques also noted the Representative of Timor-Leste to the Permanent Secretariat had been party every year to visits made by the Permanent Secretariat to provinces and cities of Mainland China, in order to promote investment by Chinese enterprises in Timor-Leste through various activities such as seminars and meetings.