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changes in the near future. I believe our government has done a lot in the last seven years since we started to enjoy political stability. Now the whole country has access to 250MW of electricity 24 hours a day. Our territory has 90% internet coverage, and I think about 75% of the people have access to it.How is the investment climate? What segments are open for Thai and other foreign investors?We welcome foreign investment in all sectors, especially tourism and agriculture. There is a Thai community in Dili, small businesses like restau- rants and massage shops. Thai Bev has established a venture which will distribute alcoholic beverages, fruit juice and drinking water in TL and has plans to build serviced apartments, hotels and resorts. I hope other Thai companies will follow.TL insists on its readiness to become an ASEAN member. How is the government planning to compete?Under the Strategic Development Plan, I’m positive we will be able to catch up with the ASEAN countries. We are investing a lot in education and human capital, building skilled labour for the areas that will drive the economy. We are a very small country of 1.2 million people and might not have enough labour to produce as much as the bigger ASEAN nations. So we don’t focus on quantity but work on quality. Like for coffee, we will maintain premium quality, being tasty and organic. We will also have more kinds of produce to offer inter- national markets and the ASEAN market of 600 million people.Give us three reasons why TL deserves ASEAN membership?First, geographically, we are in Southeast Asia. Second, our culture is aligned with the ASEAN nations. Take language. Our people can also speak Malay, Bahasa Indonesia. Our cloth-weaving patterns and handicrafts are similar to even northern and north- eastern Thailand. Third, we have experience and knowledge of nation building and successful government administrations that ASEAN nations can learn from and apply to their country development plans and policies, such as political reconciliation and the promotion of peace, freedom of the press, transparency in government budget execution and natural resource management.There were many struggles and massacres under the Indonesian occupation. Every East Timorese has a painful story to tell. How is the relationship between Indonesians16 Elite+