News Release No. 10/00
The Asian Development Bank has agreed to facilitate assistance in capacity-building for East Timor.
This is in response to a request from East Timorese leaders, Mr. Xanana Gusmao, President of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) and Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Vice President, CNRT during their visit to the ADB's Manila headquarters on 5 February.
The East Timor delegation said generous offers of assistance had been made by Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines for skills upgrading and asked ADB to play a coordinating role for such training.
ADB Vice-President Peter Sullivan said ADB would be happy to undertake the proposed role. He also explained that, although East Timor is not yet a member of the ADB, the Bank had agreed to provide technical assistance for East Timor, particularly for capacity-building.
The East Timorese said skills-upgrading was needed for a range of activity from economic management and banking to delivering public services and local government. The delegation also requested that credit be made available for entrepreneurs, large and small, to get the economy going and to provide employment.
Discussions also focused on the ADB's role as a co-manager with the World Bank of the multidonor Trust Fund being set up to assist East Timor over the next two to three years. The ADB will take responsibility for areas such as community support, capacity-building, and infrastructure development including roads, ports, airports, water supply and sanitation.
The delegation also met with Basudev Dahal, Director of the ADB's Pacific Operations, and his staff.
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