H.E. Mr. Paisan Rupanichkij, Deputy Permanent Secretary (DPS) for Foreign Affairs, , together with a delegation comprising Mr. Chulvat Narinthrangura, Director-General of the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), as well as officials from TICA, visited Timor-Leste between 20-22 August 2025.

On this occasion, H.E. Mr. Paisan Rupanichkij, along with H.E. Mr. Atipat Rojanapaibulya, Ambassador of Thailand to Timor-Leste, and the delegation, held discussions with H.E. Ms. Milena Maria da Costa Rangel, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor-Leste, as well as representatives from relevant departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor-Leste. The discussions aimed to strengthen bilateral relations and advance development cooperation between Thailand and Timor-Leste.

In this regard, the Thai side expressed its readiness to support Timor-Leste in its preparations to join the ASEAN Community within this year, as well as to advance the progress of the three-year development cooperation plan between Thailand and Timor-Leste.

In addition, H.E. Mr. Paisan Rupanichkij and the delegation met with Mr. Nelson Santos, Foreign Affairs Advisor to the President of Timor-Leste, and Mr. David Freedman, World Bank Group representative in Timor-Leste, to exchange views and explore potential opportunities for cooperation projects between Thailand and Timor-Leste in areas that would benefit the improvement of the quality of life for the people of Timor-Leste in the future.

Over the past 10 years, Thailand and Timor-Leste have maintained close cooperation in human resource development, with more than 120 participants from Timor-Leste attending training programs under the TIPP and AITC in various fields such as public health, agriculture, and the application of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP). This visit to Timor-Leste therefore provided an important opportunity to hold the first TICA Alumni Gathering in Dili, in collaboration with the Royal Thai Embassy in Dili, with a view to strengthening the network among Timor-Leste scholarship recipients and following up on feedback from training programs aimed at enhancing human resource capacity in targeted fields, which will serve to improve curricula and design training programs aligned with Timor-Leste’s future skill development needs.