Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario (Sorce :philstar)Hanoi (VNA) – The Philippines and Timor Leste have agreed to enhance bilateral relations, especially in economics.
The move came after a meeting between Philippine Secretary of Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Albert del Rosario and his Timor Leste counterpart Hernani Coelho Da Silva in Manila on December 17.
The visit of Timor Leste’s foreign minister reaffirmed the strong partnership between the two countries, which was established in May 2002, the DFA said in a statement.
During their meeting, the two ministers discussed how to enhance cooperation in the fields of defence, economics, education, healthcare, technology and people-to-people exchanges.
They agreed to forge economic links and continue efforts to deepen the bilateral relations through the Philippines – Timor Leste policy consultations mechanism with the first meeting held in Manila in 2014.
Minister Del Rosario reaffirmed the Philippines’ support for Timor Leste’s application as the 11th member state to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - which now groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.-VNA
