DILI, 20 september 2022 (TATOLI) – UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Kanni Wignaraja will visit Timor-Leste on october 17.
“Today, I was very pleased to meet Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak to inform him about the upcoming visit of the UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Kanni Wignaraja to Timor-Leste” Munkhtuya Altangerel, UNDP Resident Representative in Timor-Leste told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, in Farol, DILI, on tuesday.
Altangerel said that during her five-day visit to Timor-Leste, Kanni Wignaraja will meet with the government and local communities: “Wignaraja will start his visit by meeting with Prime Minister Ruak.”
UNDP has been in the country for over 20 years, and has supported Timor-Leste in three main pillars of development – economic development and poverty reduction, governance and institution building, and environmental and climate change resilience.
She said that during the meeting, they also discussed all types of support that UNDP has provided to Timor-Leste in the past five years, including COVID-19 and flood recovery.
“I pointed out that we had some very important projects to support the flood-affected communities. These projects have really helped the communities to recover and rebuild their infrastructure following the April-4 flash floods,” she said.
Altangerel said in cooperation with BNCTL and the Ministry of Tourism, Trade, and Industry (MTCI), they supported small and medium enterprises through a soft loan program with 3% of interest rates for entrepreneurs: “This small program received financial support from the government of Timor-Leste up to US$50 million. And I am very happy to support young people and entrepreneurs.”
In addition, Altangerel and the Prime Minister also discussed collaboration to reduce poverty and combat malnutrition in Timor-Leste.
“My point was that to reduce poverty we have to work directly with communities to create conditions of jobs,” she said.
Altangerel added UNDP had some success stories in working with farmers to increase local production of essential consumption items such as rice, and vegetables, in RAEOA.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
