Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta ends his first official visit to Italy on 28 March on a "very positive note" with meetings with the Speaker of the Italian Parliament, the Hon. Pierre F.Casini, followed by a working lunch in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hosted by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Ms Margheritta Boniver.

The luncheon meeting was attended by several other senior Italian diplomats, including the head of the International cooperation agency.

Dr Ramos-Horta, the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, was received in the Vatican City by his counterpart, His Eminence Cardinal. Tourain, the Vatican's equivalent of Minister for Foreign Affairs on March 27.

Following the meetings in the Italian Parliament as the senior Minister and Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ramos-Horta said:

"Italy has shown long-standing solidarity with the people of Timor-Leste. During the years of our country's suffering, the Italian government always supported initiatives in the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and in the European Union regarding the human rights situation in Timor-Leste. In 1999 Italy responded promptly with a significant military contribution to the peace keeping force sent to Timor-Leste that restored peace, security and freedom for our people. Now we want to see a visible Italian presence in our country as an active partner in our efforts to eradicate poverty and build a sustainable democracy".

According to the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, the Italian government will continue to support Timor-Leste via multilateral agencies such as the UNDP and FAO or bi-laterally through Italian and East Timorese NGOs.

In this regard Dr. Ramos-Horta met with the leaders of one of Italy's largest NGO who has expressed strong interest in undertaking development programs in Timor-Leste.

According to Italian officials Timor-Leste is eligible to apply for two special funds provided by the Italian government, namely, the fast-tract fund for education managed by the World Bank and the food security program managed by FAO.

The same Italian officials said that Italy has agreed to provide US$300,000 to support Timor-Leste's National Parliament. The Speaker of the Italian Parliament has also told Foreign Minister Ramos-Horta that the Italian Parliament would be pleased to invite selected members of Timor-Leste's Parliament to undertake a study visit to Italy.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ms Boniver invited an additional group of East Timorese diplomats to attend a special training program in the Italian diplomatic academy. This follows a successful training program for young East Timorese diplomats in October 2001.

In the last three years, groups of 10 or more East Timorese diplomats have benefited from training programs in many capitals, namely, in Kuala Lumpur, London, Oslo, Stockholm, Lisbon, Madrid, Washington and Maputo, the latter being offered by Brazil's reputed diplomatic school Rio Branco.

In addition, a selected number of East Timorese diplomats have benefited from highly valuable on-the-work training with Portuguese embassies in certain countries around the world that acquaint them with the realities of the day-to-day work in an embassy.

In his visit to the Vatican and Italy, Dr J Ramos-Horta has been accompanied by Mr. Jose Amorim Dias, the Timor Leste Charge d'Affairs to the European Union in Brussels.

Dr. Ramos-Horta begins Monday 31 of March his first official visit to Portugal