Vietnam and Timor-Leste explore gains

Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta (left) met with Vietnamese State President To Lam last week, photo VNA

During a state visit last week to Vietnam by Timor-Leste’s President José Ramos-Horta, Vietnamese State President To Lam declared that Vietnam stands ready to continue providing rice for Timor-Leste, contributing to help this nation to ensure food security.

“Both sides need to extend the existing MoU on rice exports or ink a new one,” said Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

Vietnam encourages Timor-Leste to increase importation of Vietnamese high-quality items such as garments and textiles, footwear, drinks, milk, processed foodstuffs, and agro-aquatic products. Vietnam also proposes that Timor-Leste soon ratify a bilateral trade agreement inked in 2013, and that Timor-Leste facilitate Vietnamese enterprises to expand business and investment activities in its market.

The two countries will consider and establish new cooperation mechanisms in line with their cooperation needs. Vietnam will also further boost cooperation with Timor-Leste in agriculture and telecommunications.

“Big potentials are there for the two countries to cement cooperation in many sectors such as agriculture, oil and gas, fishery, infrastructure development, textile and garment, industrial machinery, electrical equipment, education, culture, and tourism,” the MoFA said. “However, cooperation between the two sides remain humble.”

Vietnam and Timor-Leste inked a framework agreement on technical and economic cooperation in 2010, with the two sides agreeing on establishing a joint-committee mechanism. However, this mechanism has yet to be materialised because Timor-Leste has not arranged it yet.

Over the past recent years, the two countries’ modest trade turnover decreased. It reached nearly $54 million in 2020, $33.5 million in 2021, $17.6 million in 2022, and nearly $15.9 million last year – with Vietnam’s exports and imports valued at $15.5 million and nearly $372,000, respectively.

Such trade values have been mostly in one way, with Vietnamese exports getting the lion’s share, in which rice exports accounts for more than 90 per cent and the rest are consumer goods and processed foodstuffs.

In 2023, Vietnam exported 15,320 tonnes of rice to Timor-Leste, worth nearly $8.8 million. As of April, nearly 3,870 tonnes have been shipped to Timor-Leste, valued at nearly $2.6 million.

When it comes to investment cooperation, while Timor-Leste currently has no project in Vietnam, Viettel has been carrying out a telecommunications project named Telemor in Timor-Leste. This project was established in 2012 and provided telecommunication services from the following year. The initial investment capital was $500,000, which was then increased gradually to $10 million.

“After 10 years of development, Telemor has contributed to changing the telecommunications industry of Timor-Leste and this nation’s development,” the MoFA stated.

In 2023, Telemor’s service revenue stood at $44.5 million, up by 17.4 per cent as compared to 2022, with a record profit of about $14 million.

“Telemor has become the best telecommunication service provider in Timor-Leste, and it has also participated in many social programmes on blood donation and environmental protection,” the MoFA said. “Telemor’s achievements and contributions have been recognised and highly appreciated by the Timor-Leste government. It has been granted a certificate of merit by the government for its great contributions to developing the country’s telecommunications industry.”

Established in November 1975, Timor-Leste has an underdeveloped economy. According to the International Monetary Fund, this nation’s GDP reduced from $3.21 billion in 2022 to only $2.34 billion in 2023. The country’s per capital GDP hit $2,102 last year, down from $2,389 in 2022.

Vietnam-Timor-Leste friendly relations Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta is paying a state visit to Vietnam from July 31 to August 3 at the invitation of President To Lam. This is the second trip to Vietnam by President José Ramos-Horta following the first in 2010.