'Goa is a potential economic and cultural partner'

'Goa is a potential economic and cultural partner' 

Herald Review July 27, 2014

East Timor or Timor- Leste was colonised by the Portuguese in 1512 and gained independence a good 14 years after Goa, only to be occupied by Indonesia in December 1975. It opted for selfdetermination after UN intervention in 1999. A little over four times the size of Goa, the Southeast Asian island country has been trying to get its tourism off the ground. A 13- member Timor- Leste delegation visited Goa last week to pick up some tips. President of the economic and development committee of the national parliament of Timor- Leste, Jacinta Abucau Pereira, who headed the delegation, spoke to LISA ANN MONTEIRO


We share a similar history, having been colonised by the Portuguese for close to 500 years before achieving freedom. What are your feelings about Goa? 
This is the first time that the economic and development committee of the national Parliament of Timor- Leste visited India or Goa. Our feelings are that there are far more similarities between Timor- Leste and Goa than we suspected in the beginning, although Goa is more developed than our country.

The one big difference of course is that Goa became part of the Indian Union and did not have to go through the post- colonial struggle that Timor- Leste was forced into to regain its independence from Indonesia. But you are still very much a country on the recovery.
Yes, you are right. The 24 years of administration of Timor- Leste by Indonesia ended in bloodshed and in massive destruction of different regions, with many cities burnt by Indonesians or the militias they nurtured. We had to begin the reconstruction of our country almost from scratch. Both from the point of view of human and physical capital, the level of development Indonesia left behind was very poor both in quantity and quality. Both will take at least a few generations to develop to a minimum level to be the basis of a sustainable development.

Media reports suggest that Timor- Leste could be in for a rough patch both politically and economically after Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão steps down.
Sincerely, I do not believe it. And I’m not giving you one of those “ clichéd” answers some politicians give. I do believe that we have now a level of political maturity and a level of understanding among the leaders of the different political parties of Timor- Leste that will be more than enough for a soft transition of generations at the top of the state leadership. A sign of this maturity and understanding is the fact that the last two state budgets were approved by all parties in Parliament.

Petroleum is one of your largest exports. It is estimated that your country’s oil and gas reserves would last only until 2025. What are alternative sources of income that Timor- Leste is looking at?
The last estimates are that the oil field now under exploration will be dry by 2020. This means that the present- day main source of financial resources will “ dry up” by then. But during all these years we put apart a lot of money— now US$ 16 billion— into our Petroleum Fund that will allow us, if well managed, to continue our development for at least 15- 20 years or more. We hope and we are trying to diversify our economy developing other non- oil sectors so that we can reduce our dependence from oil. We have now an ambitious plan of infrastructure development ( including roads, ports and airports) that will be seminal to our development. One of the sectors we are trying to develop further is tourism and this is the reason why this committee decided to visit Goa to try to get some lessons from your own tourism development.

We have a common language, Portuguese.How widely is it spoken and used in your country?
Timor- Leste was invaded by Indonesia at the end of 1975 and they ended all teaching of Portuguese. Although many people continued to use the language, but with caution, because anybody that used it was, for Indonesians, suspect of having links with the resistance movement. After the end of the Indonesian administration our leaders decided that Portuguese is part of our heritage and it should be developed.
That’s why our constitution says that both Tetum and Portuguese are our official languages. The education system is now using Portuguese more and more and we hope that the about 15 per cent people that can speak Portuguese will increase rapidly in the future.

There has been some talk of trade and economic cooperation between Goa and Timor- Leste. Do you see this taking off in any serious form? In which sectors could there be bilateral cooperation.
We will suggest that the government and the private sector look at Goa as potential economic and cultural partner in a much more important way than before. But the private sector of Goa has also to do their part. We have a very friendly environment for foreign investors and there plenty of sectors where foreign investment will be welcome.The special economic zone of Oecusse is there and open for business.Go there. See what Goan investors can do. A few simple examples: we need investors that are able to qualitatively rebuild our road system. The tourism sector, not only in Dili but also in other cities, needs to be developed. Small and medium enterprises ( namely in industry and services) are essential for development.Goa seems to have the expertise in this sector to help Timor- Leste investing there. Come! 
Review Bureau