Government of Timor-Leste

The Secretary of State for the Council of Ministers and

Official Spokesperson for the Government of Timor-Leste

Díli, April 6, 2010

Díli hosts first International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding

Over 100 high level representatives from some 40 countries across the globe and from the world’s leading aid agencies will meet in Díli, Timor-Leste for the Díli International Dialogue (DID) on April 9th and 10th; the first international dialogue between donors and fragile states to address the challenges of peacebuilding and statebuilding.

Prior to the DID, Timor-Leste will host a one day forum with the g7+; representatives from Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Haiti and Ivory Coast to share their stories and consider the challenges and impediments of aid delivery.

The Díli International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding will be a platform to give fragile nations a voice to their experiences and international partners a forum to hold open and honest discussions; ultimately to create better models for long term sustainable development in fragile nations.

Secretary of State Pereira noted “Timor-Leste is a perfect case study. Despite billions of dollars and newly acquired petroleum wealth being spent on developing the country since independence, between 2001 and 2007 poverty doubled’.

‘What this means is that fragile and post conflict nations have very different circumstances to other developing nations and together, Governments and international partners need to forge a more innovative, flexible and applicable approach to aid delivery. Ultimately, the shared vision of donors and states is to discover long lasting solutions for poverty reduction.”

Pereira noted that International Partners have demonstrated a ‘monumental willingness and good faith effort’ to understand the unique characteristics of fragile and post conflict nations and adapt to the rapidly changing needs but that often the complexities of each country’s internal dynamics challenge international actors in program alignment.

The International Dialogue was launched in 2008 to ‘build an agreed consensus on a set of objectives and principles to focus national and international efforts in fragile and conflict-affected countries’; the outcomes of the summit will be presented at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, which will take place in Seoul in 2011.

Over the past half decade, international donors have made significant efforts to reform aid. The Paris Declaration signed in 2005 was an international agreement between partners and recipient countries based on five core principles; ownership, which gave recipient countries ownership of the programs and agendas proposed and implemented by donors; alignment, which ensured donors would align with those priorities and programs presented by Governments; harmonisation which was a greater commitment by both donors and Governments to make aid effectiveness more efficient; results, meaning all programs would be results oriented with reasonable time frames and expectations and mutual accountability ensuring both the international partners and recipient countries were accountable to each other and to civil society for a greater level of transparency and understanding.

The third High Level Meeting on Aid Effectiveness in Ghana in 2008 produced the Accra Agenda for Action confirming a commitment to accelerate aid effectiveness towards “eradicating poverty and promoting peace and prosperity by building stronger, more effective partnerships that enable developing countries to realize their development goals.”

Pereira closed by saying, “It is a great pleasure to be the host country to these important international summits, it is a sign that Timor-Leste is becoming a more active and vocal participant in the global community.”

It is expected that both donors and recipient countries will sign the Díli Declaration; an agreement which will outline a set of mutual understandings which will emerge from summit discussions.