| Subject: IPS: World
Bank, E Timorese Differ on Economic Policy World
Bank, East Timorese Differ on Economic Policy
By Bob Burton
CANBERRA, Nov 18 (IPS) - The World Bank mission to East
Timor on Thursday released its assessment report on East Timor's reconstruction, one that
had involved ''tough discussions'' over economic policy with independence leader Xanana
Gusmao.
While Gusmao recently criticised the mission for pushing
its own agenda and not properly consulting the East Timorese leadership, the World Bank
was at pains to emphasise that it prepared the report after pairing each expert with an
East Timorese expert.
In releasing the report, the World Bank country director
for East Timor, Klaus Rohland, said the team estimated that a three- year reconstruction
programme for East Timor will cost a total of 300 million U.S. dollars.
Rohland said medium-term priorities included restoring
basic infrastructure for agricultural production, restoring education, health and banking
services and re-establishing a civil service.
Rohland trod carefully when releasing the report,
apparently keen on not being perceived as dictating to East Timor what directions it
should take.
''The responsibility of the donors is to help the East
Timorese without imposing our design on them. It is them they know best,'' he said.
Rohland said that during a four-hour meeting with Gusmao to
discuss the report, he had been ''extremely pleased with our work and our cooperation''.
However, under questioning, Rohland conceded there was
conflict over economic policy direction. ''We had tough discussions on some issues where
they had ideas that we didn't think we should support'', he said.
''For instance in the area of subsidies (for industry
development) where we drew on our international experience to explain how subsidies had
worked in other countries and how they had failed in most of the countries. There will
always be disagreements on the margin but we have that buy in on the main thrust of the
report,'' he explained.
The mission's report will be presented to an international
donors conference, chaired by the World Bank, on Dec 17 in Toyko.
Rohland said that the Tokyo conference with include the
Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and UN agencies along with donor
governments including Japan, former coloniser Portugal, and Australia.
East Timorese leaders and non-government organisations will
attend with observer status, he said.
One of the seven-member East Timorese Transitional Council,
Joao Carrascalao, acknowledges there will be ''very difficult days ahead'' for the
territory on the way to independence.
''We will have a transitional period in establishing an
independent East Timor that will be very, very difficult. It is a challenge we accept. We
know that in the first years East Timor will be reliant on international assistance,'' he
pointed out.
''The main medium-term challenge will be education. The
majority of the people of East Timor are illiterate and we know that our future as a
nation will rely on well educated people,'' Carrascalao added.
''We also know that having an empty stomach is not the best
situation for people to learn. This is why our second priority is developing agricultural
capacity,'' he said.
The East Timorese' first goal is achieving self-sufficiency
in food and then hopefully exporting food to places like Darwin in northern Australia, he
continued.
With an eye on the booming tourism industry in the nearby
Indonesian province of Bali, Carrascalao says the development of a ''quality tourism
industry'' will be critical to the economy.
''While tourism will give us some revenue, agriculture will
provide for rural development which is more important than the development of natural
resources,,'' he says.
The World Bank is not the only organisation that has come
in for criticism from Gusmao.
Earlier this week he criticised international aid
organisations for not consulting with the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT),
the political arm of East Timor's independence movement.
''We are not informed of their meetings, which are run in a
clandestine way,'' Gusmao told reporters. ''It is now clear there must be cooperation with
the CNRT,'' he said.
The executive director of the Australian Council for
Overseas Aid, Janet Hunt, says she understands Gusmao's frustration with the international
aid operation.
''The CNRT have not been given the support they need. They
were not allocated decent office space in Dili by the UN, nor do they have the transport
and communications equipment adequate to the tasks they face,'' she said.
''If the international community is serious about
consulting with Timorese leaders as the reconstruction effort goes forward, they have to
given them the means to operate,'' she said.
East Timor's Catholic leader, Bishop Carlos Belo, has
echoed Gusmao's concerns. He warned there was a danger that without consultation with
local leaders, the UN mission to rebuild East Timor could benefit foreign interests most
and not the people in remote regions of East Timor.
Already, the Australian government is working hard to make
sure Australian business wins a major slice of the reconstruction work in East Timor.
In October, Australian government agencies sponsored a
major conference -- without a single East Timorese speaker -- to advise business on how to
win reconstruction contracts in East Timor.
Already some 4,000 companies, including 2,600 from the US
and 90 from Australia, have registered as possible contractors with the United Nations.
''Use East Timor to break into the bigger, lucrative
multilateral procurement market. This is the single best opportunity to position your
company in this market,'' Australia's trade commissioner to Washington, Alistair Nicholas,
told the 400- strong audience.
While East Timorese struggle to get basic food and shelter
organised before the imminent arrival of the monsoon season, Nicholas suggested that
business could do well providing a wide range of services. Said the trade official:
''Don't forget the Coke and pizza market.'' (END/IPS/ap-dv-ip/bb/js/99)
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