Dili, Oct. 6, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese authorities invested €26 million in development in Timor-Leste in 2024 and 2025, as part of the Strategic Cooperation Programme (PEC), Portugal's ambassador to Dili, Duarte Alves, said on Tuesday.

«We are doing this with a commitment to working with Timor-Leste, in line with the priorities we have set out together, to ensure that human resources – above all, young people – are supported, so that both younger and older people can learn and receive training,» said the diplomat.

Alves was speaking at the symbolic ceremony to award the Camões – Institute for Cooperation and Language's Domestic Scholarships for the 2026 intake to 40 Timorese students, which took place at the Portuguese Embassy in Dili.

The PEC for the period 2024–2028 was signed in October 2024, during the official visit of the Timorese prime minister, Xanana Gusmão, to Portugal, and is worth €75 million.

The programme's priority areas are Human Development, the Rule of Law and Good Governance, Public Administration, Public Finance and Economics, Youth and Employment, and Oceans, Sustainability and Infrastructure.

At the ceremony, Duarte Alves highlighted the diversity of the 40 Timorese pupils' academic backgrounds.

The 40 scholarship holders are studying at the National University of Timor-Leste in Agronomy, Animal Health, Political Science, Law, Economics, Medicine, Nursing, Portuguese Language, Mathematics, Exact Sciences, Cultural Production, Commerce, Tourism and Engineering.

The ambassador also told the students that the scholarships are a «contribution from Portugal, from Portuguese development cooperation» to enable them to «pursue their academic studies with a little more ease».

MSE/AYLS // AYLS

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