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.