Portugal–Timor-Leste relations are foreign relations between

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

Timor-Leste Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

(formerly East Timor). Timor-Leste has an embassy in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

whilst Portugal has an embassy in

Dili Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...

. East Timor was a

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

of Portugal for over 400 years. Both countries belong to the

Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (; : CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth or Lusophone Community (), is an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portug ...

History

The Portuguese, in search of

spices In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

, first settled

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

in 1520. By the 17th century, the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

arrived, settling the western half of the island of Timor. A treaty in 1859 formalized the division. East Timor is a predominantly

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

region, a legacy of Portugal's rule Portugal had effective control of East Timor only after the second half of the 20th century. Following fighting between rival groups seeking independence from Portugal, Indonesia

invaded An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of co ...

East Timor and annexed it in 1976 after East Timor declared itself independent from Portugal on 28 November 1975. The invasion resulted in Portugal severing diplomatic ties with Indonesia. In 1987, then Portuguese Prime Minister

Aníbal Cavaco Silva Aníbal António Cavaco Silva (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as the 19th president of Portugal, from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016, and as prime minister of Portugal, from 6 November 1985 to 25 October ...

accused Indonesia of abusing the "most elementary human rights" in East Timor and of preparing to rig upcoming elections in East Timor. Cavaco Silva went on to say that his government supported

self determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

for East Timor. In the early 1990s, the UN still regarded Portugal as the administrative authority in East Timor. For their part, Portuguese officials saw a "moral obligation" to continue involvement in the affairs of a former colony. Portugal tried to get the Indonesian government to agree to a settlement, and even independence, for East Timor. However, Indonesia refused the offer because of fears that other secessionist movements could be emboldened.

State visits

In 2007 and 2010, East Timorese President

José Ramos Horta José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

(who himself is half Portuguese) visited Portuguese Prime Minister

José Sócrates José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa (born 6 September 1957), commonly known as José Sócrates (), is a Portuguese politician who was the prime minister of Portugal from 12 March 2005 to 21 June 2011. For the second half of 2007, he acted ...

. Sócrates said that Portugal will strengthen relations with Timor-Leste in various sectors, including education, justice, technology and politics, adding that those sectors are vital for Timor-Leste's future.

Portuguese aid

Portugal is the biggest aid donor to Timor-Leste, having granted over US$350 million since it voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

Agreements

In 2005, the two countries signed a programme on military-technical cooperation.

Security assistance

Following the outbreak of violence in 2006, then East Timorese Foreign Minister, José Ramos Horta, asked for troops and police to be sent from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and Portugal to help calm unrest around Dili. Prime Minister José Sócrates said that Portugal was planning to send a contingent of paramilitary police to Timor-Leste if the mandate of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

mission there was extended. Later that month, Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva said the situation in Timor-Leste was very serious, and Portugal would unite with the East Timorese people and do all it could to restore peace. Portugal then sent a detachment of its Republican National Guard of 120 military police. By November 2006, Timor-Leste made a formal request to the UN and Portuguese government for the doubling of police numbers. The commitment of military police is ongoing in Timor-Leste. In 2007, President José Ramos Horta said after meeting his Portuguese counterpart that Timor-Leste will need international forces to maintain security for "another few years".

Resident diplomatic missions

* Timor-Leste has an embassy in

. * Portugal has an embassy in

. File:2016 Botschaft Osttimors in Lissabon.jpg, Embassy of Timor-Leste in Lisbon File:Europa Haus (cropped).jpg, Embassy of Portugal in Dili

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portugal–Timor-Leste relations Relations of colonizer and former colony