The Secretary of State for the Council of Ministers and

Official Spokesperson for the Government of Timor-Leste

 

Díli, April 9, 2010

 

The g7+ group of nations hold their first meeting in Díli

 

The Government of Timor-Leste, represented by Finance Minister, H.E. Ms Emilia Pires, yesterday hosted a landmark meeting of the g7+ group of fragile and post conflict nations. Minister Pires co-chaired the meeting along with H.E. Mr. Oliver Kamitatu, the Minister of Planning of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This was a seminal moment as these g7+ Country Leaders met in a closed-door environment to share candidly their stories of peace and state building and discuss their experiences of aid delivery. The Nations represented, all of them different in culture, size, population, ethnic groupings and religion were given a voice. Representatives were present from Burundi, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, Southern Sudan and Timor-Leste.

Although these represented populations from as small as 500,000 to 69 million from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, common themes, successes and concerns were expressed. The robust discussion was held in an environment where participants felt free to speak with candour and confidence and a clear statement was produced at the end of the day encapsulating the outcome of the discussions.

Minister Pires noted in her closing remarks that “What was clear as we met together was the spirit of solidarity shared between our countries and a strong desire to continue to work together in the g7 group of fragile states, to share expertise in order to make a rapid transition into peace and development”.

Spokesperson for the Xanana Gusmão Government, Secretary of State Ágio Pereira noted “Timor-Leste is proud to have been offered the opportunity to host this significant summit and welcomed the insights of other members of the g7+.”

The group proposed to continue working together and will incorporate key points from the meeting into the Díli Declaration, which will be brought to the next high level forum meeting in Seoul in 2011.