Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung,who is Special Envoy of PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, attended a ceremony celebrating the 20th anniversary of TimorLeste’s independence referendum onAugust 30 evening.

The event sawthe presence of about 500 guests from 38 foreign delegations, includingVietnam.

In his opening remark, President FranciscoGuterres Lu Olo said the ceremony honours the courage that Timorese people demonstrated to struggle for their right to hold the historicreferendum two decades ago and pays tribute to heroes who made the countrytoday.

By voting forindependence, the Timoresepeople affirmed their commitments and determinationto reconstruct the country, the President said, adding that Timor Leste still has a long way to go to buildand develop democracy, political institution, culture and national identity.

Pointing out challenges facing the world as well as Timor Leste today, he affirmed thecountry wants to foster effective cooperation with the international community, particularly in mattersregarding climate change and globalisation.

Earlier,Minister Hung attended a plenary session of the National Parliament of Timor Leste.

During his trip, Hung visited the headquartersof Viettel Timor (Telemor), a subsidiary of the Vietnamese Military Industry and Telecoms Group(Viettel).

Talking to theTelemor’s staff and leaders, Hung highly spoke of the company’s growth, sayinghe expects it will continue promoting high quality of telecommunication servicesso as to maintain its leading position in Timor Leste.

The minister recommendedthe firm to develop new technologies with a shift from communications to Informationand Communications Technology (ICT). The firm should also develop platforms,security infrastructure and help the government of Timor Leste build a strategyfor digital transformation, he noted.

The ministeralso asked Telemor to closely work with the Ministry of Information andCommunications of Vietnam to send Vietnamese experts to Timor Leste to help the country improvemanagement capacity of governmental agencies in frequency management and national digitaltransformation.

He suggestedTelemor to work with localrelevant authorities the possibility of assisting the Timor Leste government build a centre fornetwork security monitoring.

Telemor wasfounded in August 2012 andstarted operating in July 2013. Last year, its revenue reached 35.4 million USD. The company is currentlythe largest telecom service provider in Timor Leste, accounting for 54 percentof the country’s total subscribers.

After the working session with Telemor, Hung left TimorLeste, concluding his working visit to the country.–VNA