| Subject: LUSA: MPs, parliamentary staff get
Portuguese language certificates
East Timor: MPs, parliamentary staff get Portuguese language
certificates
Dili, March 30 (Lusa) - Twenty East Timorese lawmakers and legislative
staff received Portuguese language certificates Wednesday in a ceremony
attended by parliament Speaker Francisco Guterres.
Guterres described the event, also attended by Portuguese Ambassador
João Ramos Pinto, as another step in "the affirmation of the
(cultural) identity" of East Timor.
Parliament's Portuguese language program is carried out under an
agreement with Portugal's legislature and Lisbon's Camões Institute.
"Today is a very special day for me because I've earned a
Portuguese certificate", lawmaker Adalgisa Ximenes told Lusa.
"Portuguese will be our language for communicating abroad".
With independence in 2002, East Timor adopted Portuguese and the local
Tétum dialect as national languages after nearly a quarter century under
Indonesian occupation.
Lisbon's aid to its former territory centers heavily on education and,
more specifically, the teaching and promotion of Portuguese.
EL/SAS.
Lusa
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