The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reaffirmed Singapore's support for Timor-ASEAN Leste's membership during a meeting with Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta on Thursday, December 8.
Mr Ramos-Horta, who was in Singapore from December 6 to 11 for his first-ever state visit, was met by President Halimah Yacob and hosted by Mr Lee for an official lunch on Thursday.
During the discussions, Singapore and Timor-Leste reaffirmed their warm and longstanding relations, which went back to before Timor-Leste's independence, according to MFA.
Additionally, Madam Halimah and Mr. Lee reaffirmed Singapore's commitment to support Timor-Leste's development through capacity building programmes, and welcomed more Timorese officials to participate in the Singapore Cooperation Programme - a flagship platform for providing technical assistance to other developing countries.
MFA said that Mr. Lee underlined Singapore's willingness to collaborate with other ASEAN member states to develop a "objective criteria-based" road map for Timor-Leste's membership in the Southeast Asian regional bloc.
Singapore will launch a specific technical support program to help Timor-Leste build capacity in preparation for ASEAN membership. The ministry included the Singapore-Timor-Leste ASEAN Readiness Support (STARS) package.
The STARS package will include courses for over 300 Timor-Leste officials in two priority areas: ASEAN knowledge and skills training and education capacity building.
More than 200 Timor-Leste officials will get training in English language communication, note-taking, report writing, and negotiations.
Around one hundred Timor-Leste teachers, school administrators, and education officials will get training to strengthen the country's education system in order to better prepare the younger generation for membership in the ASEAN community.
Mr. Ramos-Horta also had a new orchid hybrid named after him on Thursday, the Dendrobium José Ramos-Horta.
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