Timor-Leste and Portugal sign Cooperation Program in Social Security
The Minister of Social Solidarity and Inclusion of Timor-Leste, Armanda Berta dos Santos and the Secretary of State for Social Security of Portugal, Cláudia Joaquim, signed, on April 16, 2019, a Cooperation Program between the two countries for the 2019-2022 period in the areas of social protection and inclusion. The signing of the Program took place after the seminar "Social Security: A Right for All", held in the auditorium of the Ministry of Finance in Dili.
The priority axes and areas established by this Program were approved by the Council of Ministers at its meeting on April 10, 2019 and are part of the Strategic Cooperation Program (PEC) between the two countries, approved on March 20, 2019.
This Cooperation Program, in the scope of social protection and inclusion, will have as priority the creation and/or extension of social responses to support vulnerable groups, namely children and adolescents, the elderly and people with disabilities. Another priority of this program is the strengthening of institutional capacity for the planning and implementation of public policies in the area of the rights and protection of children and persons with disabilities.
In her speech, Armanda Berta dos Santos thanked Portuguese Cooperation for the support provided since 2003 in these areas, with a special focus on recent technical support for the construction of the social security system. Earlier, during her speech at the seminar, the Deputy Minister of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, Signi Chandrawati Verdial, had stressed "the fundamental role of international cooperation, and especially bilateral cooperation with the homologous Ministry of Portugal". In view of our "financial limitations, particularly in the first years after the restoration of independence, the support of Portuguese Cooperation was essential to reach more people, more people and more communities".
Cláudia Joaquim, in her address, said that "Timor-Leste has a way to go in social security, a road that has already begun and is strengthening" and reinforced the "availability of Portugal for cooperation and training in the area of social security".
The Portuguese Secretary of State also stressed that "creating, developing and defining policy measures in the area of social security is certainly one of the most rewarding functions, because it has an immediate impact on the population and because it can make a difference in their well-being and in the development of our country!"
