The President of the Assembly of the Republic (AR), Esperança Bias, defended the need to strengthen and improve parliamentary cooperation with East Timor, as a way of solidifying the bonds of friendship between the peoples, the Agência de Informação de Moçambique reported this Friday, 5 July .
Esperança Bias revealed that in July Mozambique will host the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (AP-CPLP), which is a unique opportunity to strengthen relations between member countries, especially with East Timor.
She was speaking to the press in Maputo minutes after a courtesy meeting with the President of East Timor, José Ramos Horta, who began a three-day state visit to the country at the invitation of his counterpart, Filipe Nyusi.
“We conveyed our interest in increasingly strengthening relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, through the parliaments,” said Esperança Bias, emphasising that the visit of the president of the National Parliament of East Timor to Maputo for the AP-CPLP meeting will serve as an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of friendship.
Speaking about the courtesy meeting with Ramos Horta, the President of the Parliament said that the Timorese statesman recognised the support provided by Mozambican in May 2002, which put an end to the Indonesian occupation.
Ramos Horta shared the same sentiment as the Mozambican President, saying that there was still a lot of room for improvement in co-operation.
The Timorese statesman also said that the exchange of experiences between the Mozambican and Timorese governments has been a long-standing practice. “Although Mozambique and other Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) achieved independence decades ago, we still face similar challenges in state-building, peace-building and the sustainable development of our economies,” he said.
Ramos Horta also expressed his satisfaction at having received the “Key to the City of Maputo”, the Maputo City Council’s highest honour. “I have come to the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique to thank the city of Maputo for all the solidarity shown, expressed and realised by the Mozambican state and people over many decades of struggle,” he said.
During the Indonesian occupation, many Timorese found asylum in Mozambique, a fact that Ramos-Horta considers an invaluable support for that Asian country. “They were able to study and, 24 years after the struggle, some of them rose to leadership positions in East Timor, in our government and in Parliament. We are eternally grateful to Mozambican because it taught us the word ‘solidarity’,” said the President of East Timor.