President Ramos-Horta addresses the 81st UNGA high-level side event on “Beyond 2030: Renewing The Commitment to End Poverty In All Its Dimensions”
DÍLI, 24 September 2026 (TATOLI) – The President of the Republic and Nobel Peace Laureate, José Ramos-Horta, addressed the 81st UNGA High-Level Side Event on “Beyond 2030: Renewing the Commitment to End Poverty in All its Dimensions,” held at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
The event aimed to foster reflection on the need to renew and strengthen the international commitment to eradicating poverty beyond 2030, placing multidimensional poverty at the heart of future development priorities.
The event was co-organized by the Kingdom of Bhutan, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN), whose Secretariat is based at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.
The session was moderated by Sabina Alkire of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), and Adriana Conconi, Director of the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN).
The event brought together Heads of State and Government, senior government officials, leaders of international organizations, and development partners, providing a platform to share national experiences and discuss multidimensional approaches to combat poverty, address its root causes, and ensure that no one is left behind.
Featured speakers included:
- Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan
- Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific
- José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Laureate and President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
- Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia, MPPN founder and Chair of the Elders
- Shisir Khanal, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nepal
- Carlos Antonio Mendoza Alvarado, Secretary of Planning and Programming of the Presidency, Guatemala
- Kitila Alexander Mkumbo, Minister of State of Planning and Investment, Tanzania
- Denny Abdi, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Affairs, Indonesia
- Sergio Colina Martín, Director-General for Sustainable Development Policies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Spain
- Cataleya Phatoomros, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Organizations, Thailand
- Ziggy Adam, Director of the Poverty Alleviation Department, Seychelles
In his remarks, President Ramos-Horta outlined Timor-Leste’s evolution since the restoration of independence in 2002, highlighting the profound progress achieved over the last two decades. President stated:
“At midnight on 20 May 2002, the UN flag came down and the flag of Timor-Leste went up. We received a legacy of 24 years of violence and extreme poverty: 19 medical doctors, one university with 3,000 students, and a life expectancy under 60. Twenty-five years later, we have 1,400 doctors, a life expectancy of about 70, 18 universities, 210 PhDs, 100% electricity coverage, and ASEAN membership,” said Ramos-Horta. “Today, we have zero political violence and zero ethnic or religious tensions. But extreme poverty remains, including child malnutrition. We invested hundreds of millions of our own funding not from donors through our sovereign petroleum fund in education, health, electricity, and connectivity.”
He stressed: “International ODA’s impact has been extremely limited. Donors claim 10 billion dollars was allocated to Timor-Leste after 1999. But you spent it on Timor-Leste, not in Timor-Leste. That is the failure of ODA. Then OECD countries blame recipients: wrong policies, wrong priorities. No. You spend too much on your own experts, study after study, and even the UN system.”
President Ramos-Horta concluded by reaffirming that the fight against poverty continues, while also acknowledging the contribution of Muhammad Yunus to Timor-Leste through the establishment in 2003 to 2004 of the country’s first microcredit program, which launched a community-based approach to tackling the challenges of poverty.
TATOLI
