Profile of Timor-Leste raised through activities in the USA

Profile of Timor-Leste raised through activities in the USA

Díli, 25 April 2013 - Meetings in Washington D.C. over the past week have raised the profile of Timor-Leste and established better partnerships for international support. The Minister of Finance, Her Excellency Emília Pires and the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, His Excellency Constâncio Pinto have undertaken a busy program including meetings with officials from the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF, and have participated in events convened by the Equal Futures Partnership, IFC and the International Dialogue for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding.

On the 18th of April the Minister and Vice Minister attended the “Promise to Progress” event of the Equal Futures Partnership. Recognizing that “no country can realize its potential if half its population cannot reach theirs”, the partnership seeks to break down the economic and political barriers that stand in the way of women and girls. Timor-Leste joined the partnership in September of 2012. On this occasion the Minister and Vice Minister presented a letter from Timor-Leste’s Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality, Her Excellency Idelta Maria Rodrigues, to the US Secretary of State, Senator John Kerry. This letter detailed three commitments of Timor-Leste to improve the empowerment of women and girls. Progress on the meeting of these commitments will be shared in September 2013.

Also whilst the Timorese delegation was in Washington a high level meeting was held with Managing Director of the World Bank Sri Mulyani. Issues discussed included potential World Bank support for further work on Timor-Leste’s data collection and analysis, strengthening of the debt Management Unit at the Ministry of Finance and the rehabilitation of the road from Díli to Ainaro. The World Bank along with the IFC also committed to working together in partnership with the Government of Timor-Leste to support the three gender initiatives presented in the letter of the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality to the Equal Futures Partnership.

Private Sector Investment and Job Creation in Fragile States was at the centre of discussion in an event presented by the International Finance Corporation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the g7+ on the morning of the 19th of April. Timor-Leste contributed to the interaction with other g7+ countries and Private Sector experts considering strategies for attracting foreign investment and improving conditions for doing business.

Later that day the third global meeting of the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding was convened. At this meeting the g7+ Ministers, spoke strongly about the importance of country ownership and leadership of the development process with development partners providing support but “not in the drivers seat.” Progress in the implementation of the New Deal was discussed with special mention being made of Timor-Leste’s completion of the Fragility Assessment and the application of New Deal principles in the relationship with Timor-Leste’s development partner, Australia. This meeting ended in the adoption of the “Washington Communiqué”.

During the time of the Timorese delegation in Washington a number of bilateral meetings were also held with g7+ Ministers allowing a further strengthening of the relationship of Timor-Leste with other members of the g7+ family. Timor-Leste is now following through on requests from resource rich countries such as South Sudan to intensify peer sharing on lessons learned in the resources sector – an area that sparked a great deal of interest during the g7+ Technical Meeting held in Díli recently.

Spokesperson for the Fifth Constitutional Government, Minister Ágio Pereira noted “we appreciate the work of our Minister, Vice Minister and the Timorese Delegation in their efforts to advocate for Timor-Leste in USA over recent days. These efforts build more effective partnerships with our international partners and promote the profile of Timor-Leste on the global stage.”

ENDS

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