Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Director of AECID discussed issues of bilateral cooperation

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Zacarias da Costa with

the Director of AECID Mr. Franciso Lopez Sanz

Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa met with Mr. Francisco de Asis Lopez Sanz, Director of AECID of the Kingdom of Spain in Dili. Minister Zacarias da Costa and Mr.Lopez Sanz discussed issues of bilateral cooperation on aid and development in many areas such as governance, education, health. Cultural issues also were discussed during the meeting especially in the area of preservation and promotion of Timor Leste’s heritage.

The Uma Lulik program with support provided through AECID aims to have Timor-Leste’s ‘Uma Lulik’ recognized in the living heritage part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage List under the 2003 UNESCO Convention.

Mr. Sanz also sought support from Timor-Leste on Spain’s candidacy for FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization meeting in Rome which was granted.

The meetings took place on the 5th of November 2009 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.