East Timor's interim foreign minister, Jose Ramos Horta, visited the Lisbon headquarters of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) Monday, reaffirming Dili's intention of joining the seven-nation organization.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said Dili would formally present its request for CPLP membership "at the time of independence", which is set for next May 20.

He said the seven CPLP heads of state had been invited to attend the next meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Dili on the eve of the independence ceremonies.

After meeting with CPLP Executive Secretary Dulce Pereira, a Brazilian, Ramos Horta, who is in Lisbon on a six-day visit, said education, particularly Portuguese language teaching, was East Timor's top priority for cooperation with the organization.

The CPLP has drawn up an education program to provide the Asian territory with 3,500 teachers.

Asked about tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees still in Indonesian West Timor, Ramos Horta predicted that 80 percent of them would return home within the next "three to six months".

The remainder, he added, would stay in Indonesia either because of family ties or "fear of reprisals for crimes" committed during the wave of anti-independence violence at the time of the 1999 plebiscite.