KUALA LUMPUR – China’s poverty eradication efforts will serve as a role model for other countries to follow suit, José Ramos-Horta, president of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, has told Xinhua.
Speaking following a ceremony to mark the bestowal of an honorary professorship on him by Malaysia’s Taylor’s University in Kuala Lumpur last week, Ramos-Horta also commended China’s progress in food security and the support it has extended to Timor-Leste, particularly in boosting agricultural productivity.
During his first state visit to China last July, Ramos-Horta said, he appealed for support in improving the half-island nation’s poverty eradication and agricultural efforts.
Noting “We have a strong relationship with China,” he said he believes China’s expertise can help boost Timor-Leste’s efforts in poverty reduction.
“And in a very typical Chinese way of doing things – fast action, talk and act. [Chinese] engineers for water and infrastructure were mobilized,” he said, adding that with Chinese support, the agriculture output has increased and can go up even further.
Timor-Leste is East Timor’s official Portuguese name.
– Xinhua, MPD
