Government conducts dialogue with the communities in the Manufahi and Ainaro municipalities
On 8th and 9th of March, the Prime Minister, Marí Alkatiri, accompanied by several members of the Seventh Constitutional Government, held a dialogue with the communities of Same, in the municipality of Manufahi, and of Maubisse, in the municipality of Ainaro.
During the dialogues with the communities, Government members, led by the Prime Minister, had the opportunity to explain the current political and economic situation of the country, as well as the four priority areas established in the Seventh Constitutional Government Program (social, infrastructure development, economic development and institutional modernization).
Government members, accompanied by the Presidents of the Municipal Authorities and the Post Administrators of Ainaro and Manufahi municipalities, heard the concerns and aspirations of the population regarding the future of their municipalities and the country, through representatives of religious denominations, women, youth and veterans, non-governmental organizations, entrepreneurs and community leaders.
In his speech, Marí Alkatiri explained to the population "the national leaders need to reach a consensus among them in order to discuss a matter of national importance such as the Great Sunrise oil field."
The Head of Government also highlighted that if there is no consensus among the leaders, it will be difficult to have the necessary strength against the will of the oil Exploration Company and of Australia, in order to ensure that the pipeline comes to Timor-Leste .
Prior to the dialogue in Same, Marí Alkatiri, accompanied by the Vice Minister of Education, José Neves, stopped to greet the children of a local school who welcomed him with enthusiasm, and told these young students to "study and learn so as to develop the Timorese nation because the future of Timor-Leste is in your hands."
Marí Alkatiri also inspected the roadworks in the area known as “arrow”, between the municipalities of Ainaro and Manufahi, in order to be updated directly by the company responsible for the construction progress, and explained that he carried out this inspection "because we understand that in this central zone of the country there is still no consistency in the works carried out, to the extent that when it rains there are always problems. So we have to carry out studies of the soil so that when the rains come, there are no landslides."
Accompanying the Prime Minister in these activities were the Minister of State and Counselor for National Security, José Ramos-Horta, the Minister of State and Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Estanislau da Silva, the Minister of State and Minister for Mineral Resources, Mariano Assanami Sabino, the Minister in the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Adriano do Nascimento, the Minister of Tourism, Manuel Vong, the Vice Minister for Development of Public Works, Mariano Renato da Cruz, the Vice Minister for Development of Housing, Planning and Environment, Abrão Santos Oliveira, the Vice Minister of Justice, Sebastião Ximenes, the Vice Minister of Education and Culture, José Neves, the Secretary of State of the Council of Ministers and for Social Communication, Matias Freitas Boavida and the Secretary of State for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, Laura Menezes Lopes.
