The President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor), José Ramos-Horta, was received by his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev on Tuesday during his working visit to Bulgaria. "We need more countries like Bulgaria that build bridges", said Ramos-Horta.
Bulgaria has a long history of peace and peaceful coexistence, Ramos-Horta noted, adding that he expects the two countries to continue their cooperation in fields such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals. He outlined the possibility of sending doctors from Timor-Leste to Bulgaria for knowledge exchange and to see how modern medicine works. "In less than 20 years of independence, we have trained about 1,400 doctors, but specialists are still lacking. Dentists in the whole country are fewer than 20, cardiologists are fewer than seven, and we have only four surgeons. Therefore, we need to build and develop our medical experts, and Bulgaria can help us in this regard," Ramos-Horta said. "We can consider using your pharmaceutical industry, as since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have realized that we need to avoid the risk of becoming dependent on China in our supply chain," the president of Timor-Leste added.
Ramos-Horta voiced his respect for Europe's achievements, which managed to recover relatively quickly from the crisis after World War II, starting with agreements on coal and steel, then moving towards an economic union, and later a political union. "The European Union is not a military bloc, it does not threaten anyone, but builds bridges," the president said. "But to build bridges, strong visionary leaders and a strong economy are needed, and the EU has all of that," he added, emphasizing that it was no coincidence he had supported the European Union's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize.
/KT/
