Secretary of State of Natural Resources speaks about the Greater Sunrise
The Secretary of State of Natural Resources, Alfredo Pires, spoke on 11th May last to the Secretariat of State of the Council of Ministers’ Portuguese radio program entitled “Good Bye Conflict, Welcome Development ”.
When asked about which are the steps, in practical terms, that are been given for the pipeline to come to Timor-Leste, Alfredo Pires referred that those would be the negotiations that are in due course and the preparations that may defend Timor-Leste as an option. The “Task Force”, created by this Government is composed of nine Timorese, and as its first task it had to find out the truth in relation to the fact if Timor-Leste may or may not be an option for laying out the pipeline into the country.
After several studies ordered by the Government, and to this day eight studies have been done, everything indicates that, in spite of the challenges, Timor-Leste is a technically and commercially feasible option.
On the other hand the Government is also developing efforts in human resources capacity. According to the Secretary of State, he confirmed that “at this moment we have more than 160 scholarship students training in this area”, among which around 15 are attending master courses. Alfredo Pires also underlined that “in two years we are going to have around 40 Timorese professionals prepared to work in the programs that we are developing in this area of natural resources, including the pipeline”.
In regards to the people’s position on this issue, the Secretary of state was decisive: “generally the Timorese are united in this issue but, as it is normal in a democracy, there are a few people with different opinions”. Alfredo Pires reminded that the Government has always taken the position that, if it weren’t viable, technically or commercially, “we would not continue with this option”, which is not the case.
In relation to the possible impact to bilateral relations between Timor-Leste and Australia, Alfredo Pires categorically commented, “the relation between Timor-Leste and Australia is a strong and mature one. As any mature relation there is space for differences”. He also referred that “Australia understands perfectly the effort Timor-Leste is placing on this issue”.
In terms of the reasons that lead the Government to insist on bringing the pipeline to Timor-Leste, he concluded saying that “it is stipulated in treaties that this area must be explored for the benefit of both our peoples, Darwin has already received a natural gas plant, now it is Timor-Leste’s turn to benefit from one”, referring specifically to economic and infrastructure benefits.
