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Timor-Leste and FAO: Achievements and Success Stories

Year of publication 2011

Pages 18 p.

Product type Document

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) As one of Asia’s smallest and poorest nations, Timor-Leste is relying on international assistance to help build the capacity of the nation. While 90 percent of Timor-Leste’s one million people depend on subsistence farming and fishing to make a living, the country’s infrastructure is poor and its agriculture suffers from frequent drought. The tiny half-island country – the other half belongs to Indonesia – has no industry to speak of and produces hardly anything for export. Annual per capita inc ome is only US$431, and one in three households live below the poverty line. On a more promising note, vast offshore oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea hold great potential for the country. Natural gas could eventually earn as much as US$180 million a year. At present the Petroleum Fund is about US$6 billion. But for now, Timor-Leste is ranked as a lower-middle-income economy. It continues to suffer the after-effects of a decades-long independence struggle that damaged its infrastructure and di splaced thousands of civilians. The country ranks 120th out of 169 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI). FAO has been implementing emergency relief and rehabilitation activities in Timor-Leste since 1999, and established an Emergency Coordination Unit in Dili in 2000. FAO’s emergency activities include food security, bio-security, strengthening animal health services, nutrition, post-harvest management practices, forestry, fisheries and capacity development. Timor-Leste also benefits f rom FAO’s Initiative on Soaring Food Prices (ISFP), a global programme launched in 2008 to assist countries reeling from the rapidly rising prices of food commodities. Total FAO support to Timor-Leste amounts to US$38.5 million through 34 emergency and technical assistance national projects. In addition, Timor-Leste has been a participant in three regional and global programmes from FAO.

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