Timor Leste
India was one of the early countries to establish diplomatic relations with Timor Leste (TL) and was represented at its Independence Day celebrations in May 2002 by a high-level delegation. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in January 2003, India and TL have been cooperating at bilateral, regional and international levels. India has been offering economic, technical and capacity building assistance to TL.
Capacity Building & Other Exchanges
- India continues to strongly support TL's developmental path and is eager to cooperate and contribute in TL's tasks of nation building. As part of capacity building trainings, nearly 60 professionals from Timor-Leste have been trained in India under ITEC since 2002. Of these, 22 professionals have been trained just in the previous 9 years since 2014-15.
- 12 Timorese diplomats were trained at Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service (SSIFS), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from 20 Sep – 29 Sep 2023.
Development Cooperation (Grants/ LoCs/ Assistance)
- GoI approved a grant in aid to TL in October 2008 for infrastructure projects. An amount of US$ 100,000 was transferred to TL in March 2010.
- Bamboo Project: The project “Establishment of Bamboo Skills Development and Demonstration Centre in TL” was initially started by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in October 2004. The project with a combined budget of US$ 1 million was completed in March 2012. The Indian technical partner was Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) in Assam. The objective of this project is to establish bamboo as thriving industry sector in TL. A skills development centre was also established in order to create awareness of the potential and to train craftsmen.
- Project under IBSA Fund: The project, “Conservation Agriculture, Permaculture and Sustainable Fisheries Management: Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security and Reducing Risk Disaster in TL’ was funded by IBSA for a total cost of US $ 1.4 million. The project was developed by FAO in TL along with 2 NGOs - under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of TL, was implemented in the remote part of the Aautro Island of Timor-Leste. As a part of the project, Sustainable Agriculture & Permaculture Learning Centre was formally inaugurated in April 2019 at Atekru, in Aaturo Island. The Centre would serve as a learning centre for sustainable agriculture and natural resources conservation and development, thereby enhancing productivity in agricultural, horticultural and fisheries sector of the Island.
- India gifted 2000 MT rice to Timor-Leste in May 2022 as humanitarian aid.
- In May, 2021 an assistance of US$ 881,193 was given from I-UNDP Fund for leveraging ICT to improve education and skills.
