ASEAN offers training to improve capacity building for Timor-Leste
Jakarta (VNA) - The ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC), in collaboration with the Asian Development
Bank (ADB), conducted the first of four clusters of Capacity Building Programme
(CBP) for Timor-Leste’s Accession to the ASEAN Economic Agreements from February 7-9 in Dili.
The CBP aimed to ramp up Timor-Leste’s readiness to the economic agreements and instruments
under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) pillar. Under the programme, ASEC
staff from the AEC Department were dispatched to Timor-Leste.
As the
first of the series, the training under Cluster I was geared towards building
knowledge and facilitating greater understanding of AEC’s work, its processes,
and mechanisms as well as the Initiative for ASEAN Integration and Narrowing
the Development Gap (IAI&NDG).
In
addition, a session with the private sector was held to exchange views on their
role in the accession process to enable them to effectively participate and
benefit from the economic agreements. The programme provided immersive and
engaging learning experiences for the participants through interactive
discussions on the relevant aspects of the ASEAN economic integration
agenda.
In his opening remarks, Satvinder Singh, Deputy
Secretary-General of ASEAN for the ASEAN Economic Community, reassured Timor-Leste
on ASEC’s commitment to support their capacity development in the preparation
and accession of their full membership to the regional organisation and in the
implementation of the various ASEAN economic agreements.
He
further acknowledged CBP as an important platform to boost capacity and
help expedite Timor-Leste’s accession process. He called upon the
officials to take this opportunity to benefit from and tap on the available
technical resource during the training. The three-day training was participated
in by 63 officials from various ministries and agencies of Timor-Leste./.