Timor-Leste, 2011

It is a great

pleasure for me to be back at the United Nations

Headquarters. Last February I had the honour of taking

part in a Security Council meeting, where I took the

opportunity to thank the permanent members and all

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other nations that have been part of the Council for the

generosity and care that have always been present in

the resolutions on Timor-Leste. Today, on behalf of the

people of Timor-Leste, I want to take this opportunity

to thank all Members of this forum for the support they

have given to Timor-Leste in the promotion of peace

and security and in the building of our national

institutions. I am pleased to inform the General

Assembly that we have come a long way as a people

and as a State, replacing intolerance with constructive

dialogue and the right to protest with the duty to

protest responsibly. We have taken firm steps to put the

difficult circumstances of the past behind us, and we

have renewed the confidence of the Timorese people in

the institutions of the State. As such we have already

endorsed the Joint Transition Plan for the withdrawal

of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-

Leste by the end of 2012.

We are in the last year of the five-year mandate

of the Coalition Government that I have the honour of

leading — the Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP),

which includes five different political parties. Under

the Constitution of Timor-Leste the Government is

determined either by the party with the most elected

representatives or by an alliance of parties with a

parliamentary majority, as it is our National Parliament

that is elected directly by the people and not the

Government itself. A government can be constituted

only if it is supported by a parliamentary majority.

Following the 2007 elections the party with the most

parliamentary representatives did not have a majority

in its own right, so the President of the Republic, after

formally meeting with all parties, endorsed a coalition

government in order to provide the best opportunity for

stable government. This constitutional option served

the best interests of the nation, as we were living in a

period of great fragility at that time as demonstrated by

the instability and violence that were the consequences

of the 2006 crisis.

Having inherited an unstable national situation,

the AMP Government focused on restoring peace and

stability and resolving the many social and political

problems that stemmed from the 2006 crisis and

continued into 2008. We were determined to put an end

to the violent outbreaks that began in 2000 and were

repeated every two years, as though Timor-Leste was

trapped in a vicious cycle of violence. The key to

breaking the cycle was to acknowledge and admit that

we had failed. We had to address the root causes of our

problems and learn to deal with the frailty of our State

institutions. Fortunately we were successful in

conveying a strong political message about the need

for stability. The AMP Government committed itself to

a reform agenda and by governing through dialogue

was able to: initiate vital reforms in the defence and

security sectors, including capacity-building and

professionalizing the police and defence forces;

implement structural reforms in the State

Administration’s management; create systems and

structures to ensure good governance, while continuing

to support capacity-building in the justice sector;

introduce fairer social policies to reduce the imbalance

that existed in the society, taking into account the

physical, moral and psychological damage of a 24-year-

long war, and here I am speaking about veterans and

the elderly, who sacrificed themselves for our

independence and who, directly or indirectly, have

suffered the consequences of a devastating war;

encourage structured policies on education, health and

agriculture; and promote a coherent economic policy

throughout Timor-Leste to encourage the fledgling

private sector.

In 2009, on the tenth anniversary of the

referendum, the Government launched a new motto:

“Goodbye conflict, welcome development”. The people

of Timor-Leste embraced this motto wholeheartedly. In

looking forward to the period 2011-2020 we are

confident that we are now truly becoming a more

stable and tolerant society that is peaceful by nature.

We also have the necessary optimism to initiate a

bolder period of development.

Over the past four years we have been

strengthening the institutional capacity of our public

administration to defend the best interests of the State,

improve public-service delivery, and promote good

governance.

We have introduced reforms in the area of public

finance management and we have created a Civil Service

Commission. We have also created an Anti-Corruption

Commission and begun to establish a Chamber of

Accounts to promote transparency and accountability

in our public accounts. Earlier this year we launched an

on-line transparency portal and procurement portal

providing access to data that is updated daily and that

deals with the process of the Timor-Leste State general

budget and its execution. These portals also allow

public consultation on advertised public projects.

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We have also begun to develop the capacity of

our private sector by promoting competence,

professional honesty and technical skills. Our aim is to

transform the private sector into a strong partner with

Government at this crucial period when we are

building our country. Across the country we have

invested in agriculture to increase the productivity of

the sector, as well as local and decentralized

development programmes focused on minor

infrastructure projects to promote employment for

young people in rural areas. Such measures have

contributed to our economic growth and helped create

jobs in the capital, Dili, and in rural areas, and they

have encouraged confidence in our State institutions

and led to a spirit of optimism that has contributed to a

change in mindset.

Timor-Leste is a country blessed with great

natural wealth, which means that we have the financial

capacity to improve the living conditions of our people.

However, we know that countries rich in natural

resources often perform below their economic potential

and are more vulnerable to conflict and more

susceptible to bad governance. As such, transparency

and good governance, which are essential in any

country, become even more imperative for countries

that are rich in natural resources. Currently, the

Petroleum Fund of Timor-Leste has a balance of

$8.9 billion. We are the first country in Asia and the

third in the world to be compliant with the Extractive

Industries Transparency Initiative. As a result of our

good governance and prudent use of revenue, Timor-

Leste has had double-digit growth in the past few

years. We believe that we are on the path to maintain

this growth, and we are confident that the institutions

we have established to support the Fund will become

stronger, ensuring responsiveness and greater quality

of work and execution. We will diversify the

investment of our Petroleum Fund equally in bonds and

equities to guarantee long-term sustainability, so that

future generations will benefit in the same way as the

current post-war generation.

Having achieved our goal of stability we were in

a position to prepare a 20-year strategic development

plan, which would replace the annual plan for each

fiscal year. The plan covers three vital areas — social

capital, infrastructure and economic development. In

terms of economic development we are focused on

three strategic industry sectors — the hydrocarbon

industry, the agriculture sector and tourism. We want to

shift from an oil-dependent economy to a non-oil-

dependent economy. All the strategies and actions set

out in the plan aim to transform Timor-Leste from a

low-income country to an upper middle-income

country with a healthy, well-educated and safe

population that is prosperous and self-sufficient in

terms of food. This new paradigm requires public

investment in infrastructure and services and a

dynamic private sector. Many emerging economies,

particularly in the Asian region, have been growing

despite the serious international financial crisis.

Next year will be very important for us to

consolidate our process of State-building and to affirm

ourselves as a sovereign, tolerant and democratic

nation. In 2012 we will hold presidential and

legislative elections, the third democratic elections in

Timor-Leste, which I am confident will be conducted

peacefully. Next year we will also celebrate vital

historic dates that connect us to the more recent past,

namely, the struggle for independence, and to older

roots that make us unique within the region and the

world.

In addition to celebrating the tenth anniversary of

the restoration of independence, in 2012 we will also

celebrate the centenary of the Manufahi Revolt and the

500-year anniversary of the arrival of the first

Portuguese navigators in Timor-Leste. I should like to

take this opportunity to invite all to take part in these

celebrations, in the same spirit of thanks and solidarity

as the invitation that we extended to our independence

celebrations in 2002. We were not alone on that

important date, and we continue to benefit from the

generosity and support of nations throughout the

world. We are pleased to continue to strengthen and to

expand our ties of solidarity with friendly countries

from various continents with different stories, different

beliefs and different ethnicities.

We are trying to be more active in our region and

in the world, showing that it is possible to leave

behind, or to close, a period of conflict, even a long

period, and to focus our energy on humanist ideals of

political and social tolerance for the dignity and

development of all. That is why we are intent on

joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Timor-Leste desires peace and shares the spirit of

cooperation that led to the creation of that regional

organization. We are also continuing to build upon our

relationships with our friends in Asia and the Pacific,

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including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and

New Zealand, among others.

Timor-Leste is strongly committed as well to its

membership in the Community of Portuguese-speaking

Countries which consists of nations and peoples from

the four corners of the world. We are observers in the

Pacific Islands Forum and we have a good relationship

with the European Union, which provides significant

support and assistance. Next week I will make an

official visit to Portugal, which shares ties with Timor-

Leste that go back hundreds of years. Despite being in

one of the worst economic and financial crises in its

history, exacerbated by the global and European

financial crisis, Portugal remains a steadfast partner of

Timor-Leste and has strengthened its bilateral

cooperation in several areas. The first Timorese

military personnel are being trained in Portugal and

will be integrated into the Portuguese contingent that

will participate in the peacekeeping mission in

Lebanon under the United Nations Interim Force in

Lebanon.

Timor-Leste is one of the 50 States classified as a

least developed country (LDC). We are also called a

fragile State. That classification stems from

institutional, political, economic, social and other

factors. In April last year we had the honour to host an

international dialogue in Dili on the subject of “Peace-

building and State-building” with the participation of

LDCs from the group we call the Group of Seven Plus

(g7+), which is at present chaired by Timor-Leste. This

group is a forum that allows fragile and post-conflict

countries to come together and talk about themselves,

learn from each other’s experiences and create new

possibilities for facing the future with determination

and optimism. The g7+ consists of 17 member

countries covering around 350 million people from

Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific. The g7+

also aims to improve the transparency and efficiency of

international aid. The group is a mechanism for

dialogue with each other and with the international

community about aid programmes and aid

effectiveness. It should also be noted that fragile States

require a period of transition with greater flexibility in

donor funding, instead of a policy of one size fits all,

which can only interfere with the individual processes

of each country.

A high-level forum on development assistance is

scheduled to take place next November in Pusan, South

Korea. In that forum we will evaluate progress made in

achieving the Millennium Development Goals and will

also set new action frameworks. Under-developed

countries focus on meeting Millennium Development

Goals every day, although it will be very difficult to

meet them by 2015. These countries face daily

challenges and difficulties in pursuing objectives to

combat poor administration and reduce poverty.

Democracy is a process and not an end in itself. Most

of these countries are young democracies and have the

arduous task of changing the mindset of their people

scarred by conflict. They must also deal with internal

and external pressures that prevent them from paying

too much attention to a series of universal criteria that

are too idealized or standardized and not adjusted to

the actual situation of those countries. Understanding

the specific circumstances of each developing country

and motivating the people to cultivate a spirit of hope

and belonging will surely yield more results than

forcing situations where receiving countries cannot

immediately meet the conditions imposed on them,

thereby being put in a situation of moral,

psychological, political and financial dependency,

which does little to help them move towards

development.

It is in that context of balanced and sustained

development that I raise the issue of aid effectiveness.

Poor countries also need a message of confidence,

since all they hear about is transparency and

accountability. Still, the international economic

recession proves that the lessons taught by those with

all the power, the knowledge and the money may not

always be the best. Therefore, I believe that we must

all — poor countries and donor countries — change

our attitudes. The United Nations has a vital role to

play here in terms of correcting and adjusting aid to

actual and local realities.

We remain divided into North and South, into

rich and poor, into Westerners and Arabs, into Asians

and Africans, into Muslims and non-Muslims, and into

Christians and non-Christians. Even today many of the

people who hold or influence power still have a Cold

War mentality. We need a new world order that is also

political and economic, where conflicts and discord are

replaced by dialogue, where democracy is used to give

voice to the weak and vulnerable and where aid and

solidarity are used appropriately to mitigate the

suffering of the people. We have to give voice to the

peoples of the world and listen to their aspirations.

Only through dialogue can we fight violence, which

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causes all kinds of misery. Only through peaceful

solutions can we prevent the massive destruction

caused by war.

The people of Timor-Leste, who have

experienced the pain caused by destruction and

violence, hope that their brothers and sisters

throughout the world who are suffering today because

of conflicts may find peace. However, as everyone

says, peace is not only the absence of war, true peace

comes from within, the peace of spirit. Therefore, I

appeal to the United States of America to demonstrate

greatness of spirit and humanism and eliminate the

Cuban embargo that has existed for more than

25 years.

Lastly, in 1991 I was still in the mountains

leading the resistance when the Western Sahara

referendum was first proposed. I was in prison in 1995

when Yasser Arafat, Shimon Perez and Yitzak Rabin

received the Nobel Peace Prize. Two Timor-Leste

citizens also received the Nobel Peace Prize, and

Indonesia accepted the referendum result, just as North

Sudan did.

We hope that the people of Western Sahara and

Palestine can find more viable, fair and realistic ways

through mechanisms that will lead them effectively to

the resolution of their conflicts, which, sadly, are

becoming the oldest conflicts in the world. We all need

to reform our mindsets, attitudes and institutions. We

all must start these reforms within our own nations, but

I should like to suggest a common challenge here, that

these reforms begin right here in this building at the

headquarters of the United Nations.