The Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, held a meeting, by videoconference, on July 24th, 2020, with the representatives of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
From Manila, capital of the Philippines, the meeting was attended by Paul Dominguez, member of the ADB Board of Directors and Sunil Mitra, ADB Resident Director in Timor-Leste.
The meeting aimed to discuss the ongoing partnership projects between Timor-Leste and the ADB and the Government’s priorities for new areas of cooperation in the future.
Among the priorities presented by the Government member, were the improvement of the national private sector, the strengthening of the National Bank of Commerce of Timor-Leste (BNCTL), the rehabilitation project of the President Nicolau Lobato International Airport and the development of electronic governance and administrative modernization of public services.
Regarding to the priority economic sectors, in order to support the national economic diversification and sustainability, the Minister highlighted the sectors of tourism and agriculture, in which the main measures to be implemented should be identified, in order to ensure that the intervention carried out do not produce only superficial effects, but initiatives that have real transformative value.
ADB representatives congratulated the Government for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and reiterated its readiness to support the Government in achieving the defined objectives, to participate in the implementation of the measures and to mobilize human and financial resources.