Minister Trevelyan said she was in Timor-Leste to boost health collaboration between the UK and Timor-Leste and reiterate UK’s support for gender equality efforts and the country’s accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Addressing media on Friday, Ms Trevelyan expressed “pleasure” to meet some of Timor-Leste’s female parliamentarians during her three-day visit, and to learn how the UK could continue build on Timor-Leste’s gender equality efforts for “Timor-Leste and for the future of your women”.

Visiting Timor-Leste for the first time, Ms Trevelyan spent  Friday to Sunday in Dili where she held high-level talks with Timor-Leste President Ramos-Horta, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, and Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas.

“On my first visit to Timor-Leste, I look forward to discussing opportunities to enhance our bilateral relationship and collaboration on shared health and development priorities,” she said in a UK Foreign Affairs statement.

“We remain steadfast in our support of Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN as a key partner on the global stage.

Minister Trevelyan also attended a UN Women and Women in Leadership events over the weekend, co-organised by the Government of Timor-Leste and UN Women.

During the visit, Minister Trevelyan reiterated the UK’s “sustained support” for Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN, with the UK having become an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 2021, according to UK Foreign Affairs statement.

The three-day visit to Timor-Leste, which concludes on Monday, followed an official visit to Darwin, Australia, the first by a British minister to the Northern Territory in 70 years.