Prime Minister Rui Maria de Araujo said the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Timor-Leste would be proceeding in four sectors key to improve people’s prosperity across the country.
He said the government would be prioritizing agriculture, health, education quality and basic infrastructure services such as water and sanitation in 2017.
Next year’s general elections would also be another major focus for the government, Araujo said recently during a Timor-Leste Development Partnership Meeting at Dili Convention Center.
He said the health sector, human development and gender equality were considered medium- to long-terms goals by the government.
The Prime Minister also appealed to government institutions, the private sector and civil society to work towards achieving the goals to help improve prosperity for the people of Timor-Leste.
He said the SDGs were made up of 17 goals, which were aligned with the 2011-2030 strategic development plan for Timor-Leste and would be implemented in the medium to long term by the government.
The PM also thanked those development partners who have worked with Timor-Leste and supported the priorities of the various sectors.
“The work we have been doing together has been extremely important and has improved the situation of both our people and our country,” he said.
Speaking at the recent launch of the SDGs in Timor-Leste, Araujo called for all stakeholders to be a witness to the engagement and commitment of the government to achieve the goals.
In 2010, Timor-Leste adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a series of targets that countries had agreed to try and achieve by the 2015 deadline.
These were then replaced by the SDGs, a new set of goals focusing on sustainable development issues, with a target deadline of 2030.
Meanwhile, Director of the Timor-Leste NGO Forum (FONGTIL) Arcenio Pereira said Timor-Leste was a new country and the government should make efforts to achieve all goals for people’s prosperity.
He agreed that health, education, basic infrastructure and agriculture were important sectors as people’s prosperity closely depended on these.
He also called on the government to focus on reducing malnutrition rates across the country as this was a priority program implemented by the President’s office.
In terms of the progress made in implementing the MDGs in Timor-Leste,Pereira said there had been major achievement in several areas at the national level, including better access to electricity, improvements to rural roads and the house-building program for vulnerable people.
Director of the Alola Foundation Alzira Reis said the breastfeeding and family planning campaigns had contributed to the achievements made in implementing the MDGs, particularly in reducing maternal and child mortality rates in Timor-Leste.
She said Alola was ready to work with the government and other partners, particularly for the prosperity of women and children in Timor-Leste.
“This year, we established mothers support groups in all suburbs in the Dili municipality and Oecusse to provide nutrition education to communities, especially mothers,” she said.
She said SDGs are an important guideline for the government in identifying priority sectors to improve people’s prosperity, particularly women and children, as these issues were also considered in the 17 goals.
