José Manuel Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of East Timor and Nobel Peace prize winner for 1996, was received by the Grand Chancellor of the Order of Malta Jean-Pierre Mazery and by members of the Sovereign Council in Palazzo Orsini, one of the Order’s magistral residences in Rome.

The talks focused on the cooperation – fostered by the full diplomatic relations established in September 2006 – in education, health and fight against poverty. The reconciliation process underway in this Asian country – one of the poorest on the continent – and the role that the international community can play to encourage it were some of the topics touched on.

“East Timor shares the same aims pursued by the Order of Malta, during the last nine centuries – affirmed the Grand Chancellor – we are committed to affirm and propagate all over the world the virtues of charity and brotherhood, to impartially carry out our humanitarian assistance to the benefit of the sick, of the people in need and of the victims of wars and conflicts, and, above all, to witness the Christian faith. Of course East-Timor comes within the scope of the Order’s help and, beyond our present undertakings, we are open to start new initiatives, taking advantage of the generosity of the National Associations of Knights working in friendly countries, among them the Australian Association of the Order of Malta, and soon the Portuguese one”.