In compliance with the Ministry of Finance Reform Programs, including the Professional Development Program (PDP), the Vice Minister of Finance, Rui Manuel Hanjam chaired the Send-off Ceremony of 9 statistics scholars to Jakarta’s Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Statistik, on 27 June 2011.

This is the second batch of scholars, who were selected out of 113 registered candidates and 66 of them followed a very tight merit-based test process. The test package was undertaken by highly competent examiners from this School, the same modality was applied for the first batch in September 2010.

The selection process was administratively carried out by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), through the . Directorate General for Corporate Services – PDP section .

Vice Minister Rui Hanjam in his speech recommended the scholars to work hard individually or collectively and never give up when facing difficulties; to stay on low profile when achieved success; and to respect the local culture. Vice Minister concluded saying he expected the scholars to fulfill part of the country’s human resources long term capacity building programs and to be able to fill in the gaps in the future.

In the meantime the scholars-representative thanked the MoF for the great opportunity of this scholarship and promised to work hard until accomplishing their dreams of grabbing graduation certificates and expected they will be of any value for the MoF and the Timor-Leste development process in the future.