Manuel Vong

Manuel Florêncio da Canossa Vong (born 7 November 1962), also known as Lito Vong, is an East Timorese university lecturer and politician. In 2017–2018, he was Minister for Tourism in the short-lived VII Constitutional Government of East Timor.

Early life and education Vong was born in Dili, in the then Portuguese Timor. He comes from a family of farmers, and has five brothers and five sisters. His parents attached great importance to a good school education. From 1969 to 1974, he attended the elementary school of the Catholic Mission, then he went to school in Dili from 1974 to 1975. On 7 December 1975, the Indonesians landed in Dili at the start of their invasion of East Timor, and schooling was suspended.

The following year, 1976, Vong returned to his school in Dili; he completed eighth grade in 1977. Until 1981 he attended pre-secondary level schooling, and in 1984 he completed secondary level at St Joseph's High School in Dili.

In 2008, Vong was awarded a diploma from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. Between 2010 and 2014, he completed a doctorate in tourism at the Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve in Faro, Portugal. he was sworn in on 17 October 2017.