ABS and INETL, I.P signed a MoU witness with Vice-Minister of Finance Mr. Helder Lopes and Mrs. Caitlyn Wilson from Charge d’ Affaires of the Australian Embassy in Timor-Leste.

Mrs. Caitlyn Wilson, who is in charge of the Australian Ambassador in Timor-Leste, says that the memorandum of understanding serves as a new phase in longstanding fruitful cooperation on Statistics that commenced in 2010. It’s a fantastic example of an effective partnership between our two governments based on respect, capability development, and relationship.

“The Australian government is pleased to continue supporting the long-standing partnership between ABS and INETL, I.P. This corporation, which has grown in scope and strength since its establishment in 2010, symbolises effective government to government cooperation, and set the standard for future cooperation between Australian and Timorese counterpart agencies, “Australian Charge d’ Affaires, Mrs. Caitlyn Wilson said in her intervention at the launching of the ceremony held at the Auditorium of Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, Ministry of Finance’s, Aitarak Laran.

She added by saying that this long-running corporation is a joint program between ABS and INETL to produce quality of statistics and develop national statistical systems. In addition to the continued work producing quality economic statistics, the program will increase its focus on gender, disability, and social inclusion.  

It will also introduce new activities dedicated to international trade and investment statistics, which will support Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN and the World Trade Organisation.

Funded through PROSIVU, the Australian government’s flagship governance program in Timor-Leste, the memorandum of understanding formalises the next phase of the 2022-2026 statistical and capacity development programs. 

“It will be renewed in 2021, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it was postponed. This new collaboration will last three years from 2023-2026. New areas in which we will focus on are tourism statistics, Producer Price Index (PPI), leadership training and also supporting in the creation of the INETL website to work interactively beside that faster and easily in order to facilitate statistics data for website maintenance as well as all user around the world,” Stated by the President of INETL, Mr. Ferreira.

Mr. Ferreira also highlights that currently the government doesn’t want to produce lots of hard books that will not necessarily be read, but with electronic files they can be accessed more easily and also supports the government in making decisions. He added by saying that collaboration between the two agencies was established in 2010 when ABS supported INETL in developing economic statistics, consisting of producing the Consumer Price Index (CPI), National Accounts (NA) and Business Activity Survey. ABS has provided assistance to INETL in Leadership training so that INETL can be formed.

“Mr. Michael Smedes as ABS Executive Sponsor for Timor-Leste, believes that the renewed collaboration can provide space for ABS to continue allowing support and consistency in improving the statistics system in Timor-Leste. He also further said that this is a very good moment for us. With this partnership, we will face future challenges together and learn together to build better institutional abilities.

On the same occasion, the Vice-Minister of Finance H.E. Mr. Helder Lopes is grateful for the trust from the Australian government in providing assistance that will have a positive impact on the people of Timor-Leste.

“With this collaboration between ABS and INETL for the future we can produce more statistical data which is not only informative but also accurate and able to support the government and make better decisions for the benefit of the people,” he added.

In the meantime, an agreement was ratified through the signing of a memorandum of understanding between ABS and INETL. For the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it is Mr. Michael, who is an Executive Sponsor for Timor-Leste and Mr. Elias as President of INETL.

The event was attended by the charge d’ Affaires of the Australian Embassy in Timor-Leste, Mrs. Caitlyn Wilson, the Vice-Minister of Finance H.E. Mr. Helder Lopes and representatives of government agencies under the portfolio of the Ministry of Finance.

End.