Lam received Thursday the Timorese president, who arrived here on Wednesday for a state visit until August 3, his second travel to Vietnam in the past three decades.

During the talks, the Vietnamese head of State reaffirmed the will to continue supplying rice to Timor-Leste, thus contributing to ensuring its food security. He further suggested extending or signing a new memorandum of understanding on trade in this cereal.

Likewise, To Lam asked his counterpart to quickly ratify the trade agreement initialed in 2013, create favorable conditions to bolster investments in its territory and ramp up imports of high-quality Vietnamese products such as textiles, footwear, dairy, agricultural and aquatic products, and processed foods.

According to the Vietnamese leader, cited by the VNA news agency, Jose Ramos-Horta’s state visit will help boost cooperation between the two countries, which established diplomatic relations on July 28, 2002.

Meanwhile, the Timorese senior authority stressed that Dili considers Vietnam a development model and expressed his interest in further promoting good friendly ties between the two nations.