Government of Timor-Leste

The Vice Minister of Commerce and Industry,  Domingos Lopes Antunes, on Friday 30 April 2021, launched, for the first time, a Secretariat for Economic Integration and Diversification under the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry.

The initiative is another embodiment of the government’s commitment to pursue the right policies, legal and regulatory frameworks for Timor-Leste’s economic integration and diversification efforts.

The secretariat consists of three distinctive units, namely, the Regional Economic Integration Unit, the Economic Diversification Unit, and the National and International Cooperation Unit.

At the launch, Vice Minister Antunes explained that the secretariat is established in accordance with the primordial role of the ministry. It technically supports the ministry in all matters related to economic integration and diversification. Some actual works that are being carried out by the secretariat include building domestic capacity for ASEAN, WTO and EPA accessions, contributing to the implementation of the short to long term economic recovery plan’s measures and coordinating with all the national and international stakeholders such as the private sector and the implementing development partners.

The Vice Minister also said that his team is currently preparing to organize for a dialogue with the private sector and the implementing developing partners in aligning their priorities and goals towards economic integration and diversification endeavors.

The Vice Minister thanks all parties who have been supportive in the secretariat’s establishment process, specifically to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) team and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for their continuous technical support, and welcomes the support from the other existing development partners such as the Embassies of the ASEAN Member States, USAID, EU, GIZ, UNDP, UN-ESCAP, KOICA, DFAT, NZ Embassy and others.