Díli, on April 30th, 2021 – The Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, represented by H.E. Rui Augusto Gomes, Minister of Finance, H.E. Dra. Adaljiza Magno, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, H.E. Miguel Carvalho, Minister of State Administration, H.E. Joaquim Gusmâo Martins, Secretary of State for Civil Protection and H.E. Deometro do Amaral Carvalho, Secretary of State for Environment met with the representatives of the Embassies of Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Republic of Korea and the United States of America, the representative of the European Union Delegation, and the United Nations Resident Coordinator and the representative of the Asian Development Bank, to further discuss international assistance to Timor-Leste in response to the 4 April 2021 catastrophic floods.

The meeting was organized based on the suggestion from the relevant Embassies, Delegation and International Organization to serve as an opportunity to share information on the efforts taken by the Government. During the meeting the Government of Timor-Leste presented Timor-Leste areas of priorities, and have a constructive discussion with the Government and the respective Embassies, Delegation and Organization on improving coordination and collaboration in responding to the floods.

During the meeting, the Government conveyed its profound appreciation to the support that it has received from this group of Development Partners, and expressed its wishes to continue working closely to respond to the calamity, in order to alleviate the suffering of the communities affected by the floods and building back better to strengthen Timor-Leste resilience from future disasters or shocks.

In concluding, Minister Magno underscored “the importance of the Development Partners’ strong commitment to support the ongoing government efforts to address both humanitarian crises and the infrastructure damages caused by the recent calamity. The government of Timor-Leste, in its plan, count on the significant support and committed to build back better, to rebuild a strong and resilient community in a more integrated mechanism such as; disaster response plan, early warning system, good quality infrastructure, good urban plan and so forth to better prepared for unforeseen future calamity that might be happened more in greater scale.”