State Visit of His Excellency José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, 6 to 11 December 2022

His Excellency José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, received a ceremonial welcome at the Istana this morning and met President Halimah Yacob. He also met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who hosted him to an official lunch. Earlier in the morning, President Ramos-Horta had a new orchid hybrid, the Dendrobium José Ramos-Horta, named in his honour. To commemorate the 20^thanniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Timor-Leste, President Ramos-Horta planted a Diospyros ferreatree native to the region at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. 

During the meetings, both sides affirmed the warm and longstanding relations between Singapore and Timor-Leste, which date back to before Timor-Leste’s independence. President Halimah and Prime Minister Lee welcomed the first-ever State Visit from Timor-Leste by President Ramos-Horta. They 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. Prime Minister Lee reaffirmed Singapore’s in-principle support for Timor-Leste’s ASEAN membership and Singapore’s commitment to work constructively with other ASEAN Member States on an objective criteria-based Roadmap for Timor-Leste’s ASEAN membership.

To support Timor-Leste in building its capacity to prepare for ASEAN membership, Singapore will launch a special “Singapore-Timor-Leste ASEAN Readiness Support” (STARS) package. The STARS package will comprise courses for more than 300 Timor-Leste officials in two priority areas, namely ASEAN knowledge and skills training, as well as education capacity building.

President Halimah will host a State Banquet for President Ramos-Horta this evening.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

8 DECEMBER 2022

Annex

FACTSHEET FOR THE ORCHID NAMED AFTER

HIS EXCELLENCY DR JOSÉ RAMOS-HORTA, PRESIDENT OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF TIMOR-LESTE

AND TREE SPECIES PLANTED BY PRESIDENT RAMOS-HORTA

Dendrobium José Ramos-Horta

Parentage:Dendrobium Kiyoshi Blue ×Dendrobium taurinum

This is a robust and free-flowering orchid hybrid. It produces semi-arching inflorescences of about 60 cm in length that bear around 25 to 30 well-arranged flowers, each flower measuring approximately 5.5 cm across. The velvet purple petals and lip are complemented by magenta sepals.

The orchid is named after His Excellency Dr José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, on the occasion of his State Visit to Singapore from 6 to 11 December 2022.

Tree species, Diospyros ferrea, for the tree planting ceremony

Diospyros ferrea

The tree presented to His Excellency Dr José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is Diospyros ferrea. It is from the persimmon family that is native to the Southeast Asian region, including Singapore and Timor-Leste. Diospyros ferrea has strong and hard wood that can withstand adverse weather conditions. This particular specimen is of wild provenance from the general region encompassing Timor-Leste, and is an important addition to the Singapore Botanic Gardens’ Diospyros collection.

For more information on the orchid hybrid and tree species, please contact Chan Yang Sun, Senior Executive (Communications), National Parks Board (chan_yang_sun@nparks.gov.sg).

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FACTSHEET ON

SINGAPORE - TIMOR-LESTE

ASEAN READINESS SUPPORT (STARS) PACKAGE

1        As part of Singapore’s commitment to support Timor-Leste in building its capacity in preparation for its membership in ASEAN, Singapore has launched a special technical assistance package for Timor-Leste – the “Singapore-Timor-Leste ASEAN Readiness Support” (STARS) package. The package is aligned with the recommendations of the Fact-Finding Missions (FFMs) of the three ASEAN Community pillars to determine Timor-Leste’s readiness to be a member of ASEAN.

2        The STARS package will cover two main priority areas – ASEAN knowledge and skills training, as well as education capacity building. More than 300 Timor-Leste officials will be offered training under this package, which will comprise seven courses (totaling thirteen runs).

3        The ASEAN knowledge and skills courses are aimed at equipping Timor-Leste officials to participate effectively in ASEAN meetings. It will comprise courses on English language communication, note-taking and report-writing, and negotiations for more than 200 Timor-Leste officials.

4        The education capacity building courses are targeted at supporting the development of Timor-Leste’s education system to help prepare the younger generation to join the ASEAN Community. Singapore will offer Train-the-Trainer programmes for around 100 Timor-Leste teachers, school administrators and education officials in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as well as school administration and curriculum development.

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