On 5th June, entrusted by Hunan Province, Ambassador Dr. Xiao Jianguo handed over a batch of medical supplies including face masks donated by Hunan Province to the Ministry of State Administration and Manatuto District. Mr. Miguel Pereira de Carvalho, Minister of State Administration, Mr. Abilio Jose Caetano, Vice Minister of State Administration, and Mr. Fernando Domingos de Almeida, Administrator of Manatuto District attended the handover ceremony.
Ambassador Xiao said that as a sister province of Manatuto district, Hunan Province actively supported the efforts of Timor-Leste to fight against COVID-19 epidemic. The Hunan Province, Xiangtan City and Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences raised a batch of anti-epidemic materials and donated them to the Ministry of State Administration and Manatuto District, which reflects not only the friendship between two localities, but also a vivid expression of jointly fighting against COVID-19 in building a global community of health for all. In recent years, the friendly exchanges between Hunan Province and Manatuto District have been deepened. Last year, a cultural and art troupe of Hunan province was sent to Timor-Leste and presented performances for the first time. Moreover, the enterprise from Hunan Province has engaged in agriculture in Manatuto district for many years. It was hoped that with the support of the Ministry of State Administration, the two localities continued to deepen exchanges and cooperation and pushed forward comprehensive cooperative partnership between China and Timor-Leste.
Ambassador Xiao emphasized that the two countries shared a profound and traditional friendship. China closely followed the epidemic control in Timor-Leste and had been fully supporting battle against COVID-19 in Timor-Lest through various channels. China was the first country to donate medical supplies to Timor-Leste, the first country to deliver medical supplies by chartered flights to Timor-Leste and had donated the largest number of face masks to Timor-Leste. In the context of a normalized prevention and control of COVID-19, China stood ready to provide necessary assistance to Timor-Leste to the best of its ability.
Minister Carvalho and Administrator Almeida respectively expressed sincere gratitude in their remarks. Administrator Almeida said that Timor-Leste was facing serious shortage of medical supplies. The donations from Hunan Province provided timely and strong support for fighting against COVID-19 in Manatuto District. I would continuously promote exchanges and cooperation between Manatuto District and Hunan Province in order to elevate bilateral relations between Timor-Leste and China. Minister Carvalho said that hardship reveals true friendship. China gave strong support to Timor-Leste, which reflects the profound friendship between our two countries and peoples. Soon after I assumed Minister of State Administration, I would like to further deepen exchanges and cooperation at various levels between two governments and promote friendship between two peoples.
Several Timorese media including Tatoli, STL, Independent reported the ceremony.
The medical supplies donated by Hunan Province included 50,000 face masks and 560 bottles of hand sanitizer gels.