Page 17 - ELITE PLUS MAGAZINE VOL10

The fourth-newest country in the world, East Timor, or Timor-Leste (TL), is leaving behind a history of struggles and violence as it plans for the future. With a philosophy of sustainable development, the ASEAN member-to-be is focusing on creating a good quality of life for its people, aiming to become an upper middle income nation by 2030. Francisco Dionisio Fernandes, chargé d’affaires at the East Timorese embassy in Bangkok, sat down with Elite+ to talk about the challenges ahead for the youngest country in Asia-Pacific.How does such a young country plan its development?Apart from aligning ourselves within the framework of a multiparty presidential parliamentary democratic system, our government has launched a Strategic Development Plan for 2011 to 2030, aiming to become an upper- middle-class income country by 2030. There are three key sectors to develop and strengthen: agriculture, tourism and petroleum. And development must be done in the most sustainable way.To achieve growth in these sectors, we have to work hard on developing human capital and infrastructure. We have sent our people to career and skill training, and given scholarships for overseas studies. We are providing social welfare across the country, like school education, health care and a safe environment. We are building roads and bridges, clean water supply, irrigation for agriculture, electricity, telecommunications networks, ports and airports. Now we have one international sea port in Dili, with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes per year. We need more on the northern and the southern coasts. One will be built with a capacity of 1 billion tonnes. We are expanding the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport in Dili and are going to build regional airports, such as in Lospalos, Same and Viqueque.How will these projects be funded?At the moment, over 90% of national income comes from offshore oil and gas. We have a Petroleum Fund created in 2005 that allows the government to withdraw surplus revenue to make up shortfalls in the state budget and invest in country development. This way we’ve built a consistent and sustainable source of income for our country, and we ensure the next generations can still benefit. We don’t only think “present”, we also think “future”.The fund has a minimum of 3% annual return. Present capital amounts to US$17 billion. So we are withdrawing around $600-700 million every year. We used to get up to $1.2 billion per year thanks to higher oil prices.Besides oil and gas revenue, we are working on diversifying our economy. We are seeing if cocoa and avocados can catch up to coffee, which has been the main cash crop. Our coffee beans are premium quality and demand is overtaking supply. We’re facilitating the private sector, helping SME entrepreneurs and inviting international investors. It’s possible that tourism and agriculture revenues will make up 40% of our GDP in the next 10 years. It’s on our government agenda that one day income won’t depend on oil and gas.With $600-700 million in the national budget, why are there not more obvious signs of development?We cannot develop a country overnight. We’re doing everything step by step, walking gradually towards our goals set for the next 15 years. We are a small country and now lack capacity. But I’m very optimistic you will seeElite+ 15Our government has launched a Strategic Development Planfor 2011 to 2030, aiming to becomean upper-middle-class income country by 2030