Dili, 15 July 2010-

Statement of the Special Representative
of the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste and Head of UNMIT
Ms. Ameerah Haq

2010 Second Quarterly Development Partners Meeting

15 July 2010

Honorable Minister of Finance,
Excellencies,
Development Partner Colleagues and
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to address the 2010 Second Quarterly Meeting of the Development Partners. At the outset, I would like to recognize the leadership of the Minister of Finance for spearheading the ongoing and very useful dialogue with the development partners and I very much appreciate and strongly support the Minister's suggestion that the Government and the development partners engage more in policy dialogue.

We have listened attentively to the Ministry of Finance and we concur that this forum could be used more as a forward-looking policy dialogue. I am grateful for the Minister's comprehensive update on a number of important issues.

I would like to congratulate the Government of Timor-Leste for overall good progress made in the National Priorities process. This nationally owned (and I would like to emphasize nationally owned) process is now well into its third year, and the United Nations together with the World Bank continues to assist the seven Working Groups and the Secretariat.

The National Priorities have been an effective mechanism for enhancing inter-ministerial coordination and cooperation with development partners in key sectors although some working groups had difficulty in arranging their meetings. The enhanced cooperation has been resulted in improved food security monitoring and response. Human resources development and vocational training were also boosted through specialized courses for teachers, senior police officers and Justice professionals as well as for private lawyers. Another achievement of the National Priorities process is anchoring private sector growth more firmly in rural development and infrastructure programs, as the Minister has just outlined.

It is encouraging that more activities were completed in the area of infrastructure, including 808 projects in 2009. This year, Infrastructure is again a top Government priority. However, more targets could be on track for completion, especially in improving major road networks. The Minister spoke about the importance of tendering and procurement mechanisms being fully resourced and have the necessary oversight to achieve this Goal.

Much has been done to engender the National Priorities, and the UN will always pay due attention to gender. We still see a lack of policies and incentives for female extension workers and female justice personnel. While dialogue is underway on the Strategic development Plan, we look forward to hearing more about the Government's ideas on how the National Priorities process would transition from annual to multi-year planning, guided by the Strategic Development Plan, as they ought to be.

Excellencies and Colleagues,

The UN and development partners gathered here are encouraged to note the recent macroeconomic performance of Timor-Leste. The country has achieved an impressive economic growth of 12.2% in 2009 while maintaining low inflation in the midst of the global downturn. There is always a "however", which is that the trends in the non-oil GDP are not as encouraging. Development partners and the Government should work together to reverse this trend.

We recognize the Prime Minister's continued high engagement in consultations with the public on the National Strategic Development Plan (SDP). He has set a demanding schedule for himself visiting all sub-districts. The UN system is looking forward to engage in a dialogue on the plan when the updated version is shared with us.

We are hopeful that the SDP could be an instrument for promoting human development and pro-poor growth. We will continue to stress this important point. Enhancing local production capacities in agriculture, and balanced rural development including employment opportunities for youth could be targeted. We are happy to hear that 64,000 jobs were created last year and we appreciate continued focus on youth employment.

Accumulated Petroleum Fund revenues have now reached $6.2 billion. It would be strategically important to make investments in productive sectors such as agriculture, trade and industry. We continue to urge investing in human capital while also looking at the sustainability of the increasing recurrent expenditures and non-conditional transfer payments. In this regard, we look forward to the visit by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs in October to continue dialogue on policy issues.

The Minister of Finance already spoke much about improved accountability systems and good governance will go a long way in boosting investor's confidence and help spend the national oil wealth with prudence. I could not agree more that the focus on pushing capital development to outlying districts in the decentralized development package and training staff is important. It should go hand in hand with improving the capacities in the line ministries and the districts to handle especially major procurement projects. Regular training should be imparted particularly for procurement of goods, civil works and equipments. In this regard, wherever human capacities are inadequate, or not yet at the required level for now, Timor-Leste should "buy" such capacities from abroad as successfully demonstrated by some developing countries.

On the accountability issue that was raised I would like to add one thing: even though a mere 2% of the projects last year were categorized as 'bad', discussions in media and in the National Parliament have brought out some concerns about companies, which are bidding for public projects may work according to sufficient quality. Better monitoring and training would therefore be advisable for them.

I would like to particularly mention that many Timorese notably in the rural areas have not yet felt the benefits of the double-digit growth rates this country has achieved over these last three years. While this year's Budget and the Supplementary Budget are often allocated for good purposes they may not necessarily reach the target population. When we say that progress has been made in reducing poverty, we may sometimes tend to look at aggregate figures only. The picture changes, however, when we disaggregate the data based on sex, age, marginalized groups, and regions. I would like to urge that we look at these disaggregated figures so we can be more confident that goals have been truly achieved.
Your, Excellency, already mentioned that we have five years left to attain the MDGs. This compels us to bring the agenda of inequality to the table and to address it in a manner that the trickle-down effect of the economic growth touches every citizen, every household, every child.

Excellencies and Colleagues,

Timor-Leste is now preparing to participate in the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Review Summit this September in New York. We are very proud to work with you jointly upon the Government's request to produce the MDG Booklet. As you have said, this report must give an accurate and factual picture of where the country stands and where the challenges are in attaining the MDG. Your SDP will provide an excellent opportunity for the government to rededicate itself to achieving the MDGs by making macro-economic policies MDG-sensitive and allocating enhanced human and financial resources to the social sectors to achieve the MDGs.

The Ministry of health and others have prepared data for preliminary results from the 2010 District Health Survey (DHS). They show that some key indicators are moving in the right direction for achieving the MDGs, especially regarding safe childbirths, infant and maternal health.

Timor-Leste is largely on track with enrolment, gender and literacy targets in the Education Sector, and I congratulate the Minister of Education on these achievements. While this is good news, the challenges remain formidable. Now is not the time to become complacent. We have to be resolute and pursue bringing Timor-Leste closer to the achieving most MDGs by 2015.

The National Census launched on 11 July is another milestone in this direction. This operation, held for the first time since 2004, is budgeted with $4.2 million. UNFPA and other UN Agencies are greatly involved, and I am very pleased and proud that we are working with you and are able to provide substantive and technical assistance. I am sure we can all agree that the results should be utilized, and provide a scientific basis for future programming. The UN shares concerns of many sectors of Timorese society over rapid population growth in the country.

In this context, I would like to congratulate the Parliamentary Women's Caucus on this week's successful National Conference on Reproductive Health. Excellent work was done by all the Steering Committee Members, with assistance from the entire UN Family under the leadership of UNFPA.

Concerted efforts are needed to maintain Timor-Leste's ranking as a low prevalence country in HIV/AIDS infections, including through birth control that is both effective and culturally sensitive.

I would like to reassure you that the UN Family is firmly committed to lending assistance in times of need. We had the most recent floods in Viqueque and Dili districts. The UN will help in coordinated relief efforts with the Government.

Please let me take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister of Finance for the prominent role that Timor-Leste has in the g7+ initiative and for participating in the 2011 Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration and the Fragile States Survey in 2011. UNDP is very pleased to have been chosen by you to be the multilateral donor focal point and UNDP looks forward to taking this step to offer support in this process.

We have begun the process of UNMIT's transition planning taking into account the views expressed by the Timorese stakeholders during the visit of the United Nations Technical Assistance Mission earlier this year. I have subsequently had fruitful discussions with the Timorese leadership including President Ramos-Horta, President of the National Parliament La Sama, Prime Minister Gusmão and Fretilin Secretary-General Alkatiri. They have all agreed with me that close coordination and consultations between UNMIT and the Timorese national authorities at different levels would be the key to a successful transition. President Ramos-Horta, Prime Minister Gusmão and I will meet in mid-September, after the completion of the Prime Minister's district consultations on the SDP, to look at key issues pertaining to transition planning and the increasing focus on national capacity development and strengthening of State institutions.

Regarding the ratification of environmental instruments, Timor-Leste has signed three major conventions: the Rio Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Montreal Protocol and are committed to the Copenhagen accord. These instruments are important in mitigating the effects of the Climate Change.

Honorable Minister of Finance,
Excellencies,
Development Partner Colleagues and
Ladies and Gentlemen,

In concluding, let me assure the Government of Timor-Leste that the UN system stands fully committed to working towards the realization of the vision of "Good-bye Conflict, Welcome Development" by forging solid partnerships to promote a bright future for the citizens of this country.

Thank you.