SoSAD signs an agreement with the UNTL, the ISCSP of the Technical University of Lisbon and the Government of Victoria, Australia
On May 27th, 2013, the State Secretariat for Administrative Decentralization (SoSAD) signed an agreement with the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL), with the Higher Institute for Social and Political Sciences of the Technical University of Lisbon and with the Local Government of Victoria, Australia, on administrative management, planning, provision, evaluation, implementation and administration of municipalities.
The Secretary of State for Administrative Decentralization, Tomás Cabral, informed “the aim of the agreement is to prepare State officials, who will be detached in the districts, integrating future municipalities. This cooperation has two major strands, on one side, preparing people for this process, on the other side, integrating the Australian specialists that will support the project of establishing municipalities in the community”.
Tomás Cabral added, “before, Australia had only Friendly City’s agreements, but today these cities are already legally represented by a Local Government. This Local Government, represented by AUSAID, will help Timor-Leste’s Local Authorities; therefore, cooperation with Australia is relevant. They will help in human resources’ training. We may send officials to Australia, to learn English. They may help to organize training, and also to integrate the community project to be implemented in the field.
The Dean of the National University of Timor-Leste, Aurélio Guterres considers important “this specialized training provided to those who will be working in the municipalities. The UNTL and the Technical University of Lisbon will mostly answer the needs of preparation of municipalities’. There are some pending issues on research, but that is normal. The most important thing is to prepare officials to integrate future municipalities, for them to be prepared to work when the project is implemented”.
Apart from the Secretary of State for Administrative Decentralization, Tomás Cabral, the ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of Portugal in Timor-Leste, Manuel Gonçalves de Jesus, the Ambassador of Australia, Miles Armitage, the delegation of the Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the Technical University of Lisbon and the delegation of the Local Government of Victoria.
