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Busy start for new Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation,
22 July
José Luís Guterres, the former Ambassador to the
UN in New York and Ambassador to the US, was sworn-in yesterday
by President Xanana Gusmão as Minister for Foreign Affairs
and Cooperation in the Government led by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate,
Dr José Ramos-Horta.
"I always feel honoured to serve my country in any capacity
I'm asked to but to succeed Dr Ramos-Horta as Minister for Foreign
Affairs and Cooperation is something special. I'm grateful for
the confidence deposited in me," Minister Guterres said.
"For more than 30 years I've been a friend and a colleague
of Prime Minister Ramos-Horta in the struggle for independence,
freedom and democracy for our country.
"I've learned a lot from him and I hope I can live up to
the legacy of Dr Ramos-Horta, whose high-profile, intelligence
and incisiveness has kept Timor-Leste in the minds of the international
community and helped so much our country," he said.
Immediately after he was sworn-in Minister Guterres got on to
work.
After visiting every division in his ministry where he was welcomed
by the staff, Minister José Luís Guterres'very first
official engagement was a meeting with a delegation from the European
Commission, also attended by the Secretary General of the Ministry,
Nelson Santos.
The EC delegation was led by the Ambassador Miguel Amado, the
Special Envoy of the President of the European Commission, José
Manuel Durão Barroso; Sónia Neto, political advisor
to the EC President; Predrag Avramovic, a specialist in the EC's
rapid reaction mechanism; and Aldo de-Lariccia, the head of the
EC delegation in Papua New Guinea.
Minister Guterres asked the delegation to convey to President
Durão Barroso his gratitude for his and the Commission's
support for Timor-Leste in the difficult phase the country went
through by promptly sending a Special Envoy to Timor-Leste, Ambassador
Miguel Amado, and a team to assess the country's current and future
needs.
Tomorrow, Sunday, July 23, Minister Guterres, departs to Kuala
Lumpur to participate in the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting as guest
of the Chairman and the ASEAN Regional Forum, from 24 to 28 of
July. He will also accompany Prime Minister Ramos-Horta during
a working visit to the Malaysian capital.
Timor-Leste's delegation to the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and
the ASEAN Regional Forum also includes Juvêncio Martins,
Designated Ambassador to Malaysia, João Câmara, Director
of Multilateral-Regional Affairs, Lieutenant Colonel Filomeno
Paixão, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence,
and Atanásia Pires, second secretary of Timor-Leste's Embassy
in Kuala Lumpur.
They will join a delegation headed by Prime Minister, Dr José
Ramos-Horta, which includes the Minister for Natural Resources,
Minerals and Energy Policy, José Teixeira, and Prime Minister's
Chief of Staff, Marcos da Costa.
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