East Timor and Portugal: the Experience of Building a Mutually Beneficial Relationship

ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНАЯ АЗИЯ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ, 2023, №1(58), 195-204

 
Annotation: Relations between East Timor and Portugal date back more than half a millennium. For most of this time, East Timor was part of the Portuguese Empire. At the end of the XX century, the countries faced a new reality – the process of decolonization and the need to build bilateral relations on new principles. In this regard, the relations between Portugal and East Timor are a positive example of overcoming the problems of the colonial past. The article examines the bilateral cooperation of the period of independence of East Timor, highlights its main directions and prospects for development. In addition, the article describes multilateral cooperation within the framework of the Portuguese–centric format - the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). For 20 years, the PCA has been the main institution of multilateral cooperation for East Timor, especially in conditions when the Regional Association of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN), due to many economic and political reasons, is in no hurry to accept the eleventh member into its ranks.

Keywords: Timor-Leste, Portugal, Community of Portuguese Language Countries, bilateral relations