International donors talks open in East Timor

International donors talks open in East Timor

Bronwyn Curran, Agence France-Presse, Dili

East Timor opened aid talks on Tuesday with an appeal to foreign donors not to abandon it in the crucial first years of independence, when it will be Asia's poorest country.

"We need assistance to maintain the momentum of development and to ensure that the foundations which have been put in place during the transition (to independence)...are sustainable," future prime minister Mari Alkatiri said in his opening address to the sixth East Timor Donors' Meeting.

The tiny half-island state becomes independent at midnight Sunday (10:00 p.m. in Jakarta). It is seeking some US$90 million in grants from donors to meet one third of its budget needs for the next three years -- until offshore oil and gas revenues can bring it financial independence.

It is also asking for extra development and reconstruction grants as it struggles to build an economy and rebuild infrastructure that was devastated by Indonesian army-backed militias after the August 1999 vote for independence from Jakarta.

International donors have given East Timor more than $1 billion since late 1999, when the UN began rebuilding the former Indonesian province from the ashes and rubble that remained after the militia rampage.

Japan has been the biggest donor so far, followed by the European Commission, Portugal, Australia and the United States.

"I really urge you in the next three to four years to continue with your generosity," Klaus Rohland, East Asia and Pacific director for the World Bank, which is co-chairing the talks, told the donors.

"East Timor, unlike other developing countries, has a good chance to become economically independent in a few years...until such time East Timor will need your financial support."

Delegates from 27 countries and 15 multilateral institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations, are at the two-day talks.

They were presented with a five-year national development plan, drawn up by East Timor's fledgling administration after country-wide consultations with 32,300 inhabitants.

The blueprint outlines programs to alleviate poverty, in which 41 percent of the 750,000 population live, and to kickstart economic growth.

It prioritizes infrastructure recovery, education and health improvements -- including creation of a cheap health-care system.

Boosting agriculture is highlighted as a key development strategy, with some three-quarters of the population living off subsistence farming.

"We will not be able to implement the plan without your continuing support," Alkatiri said.

Local non-government organizations addressing the conference called for attention to weak local government structures, questioned the import of Portuguese teachers to teach the chosen official language, and urged flexibility from donors in the implementation of development plans.

International NGOs called for a stronger focus on rural water supply and sanitation, describing it as "already critical." There was an imminent danger of outbreaks of water-borne diseases, they warned.

The European Commission, which has given East Timor US$125 million (137 million euros) since 1999, said it was providing 28 million euros this year.

"East Timor's financing challenge is not just to raise donor funds each year to plug annual financing gaps but, eventually, to achieve long-term fiscal and external financing sustainability," it said in a statement to donors.

The donors are being asked to fund another 182 foreign technical assistants to the new administration, on top of 100 foreign experts who will be funded by a UN successor mission.

President-elect Xanana Gusmao, thanking donors for their "emergency" aid of the past two and a half years, said his infant country was entering a "new phase" of need.

"Instead of emergency assistance, we are now talking about development assistance," the former guerrilla commander said.

Outgoing chief UN administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello said the world's newest nation faced "daunting challenges." On Monday the United Nations Development Program released a sobering country snapshot ranking East Timor as Asia's poorest country.