PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDP ASIA PACIFIC BUREAU HEAD

The United Nations Development Agency (UNDP) expected to play an even more active role in East Timor after the establishment of a national government there, Hafiz Pasha, Assistant Secretary-General and head of the Asia Pacific Bureau of UNDP, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, as he briefed them on his recent trip to Asia.

Mr. Pasha visited East Timor, Indonesia, India, the Phillipines and Thailand, accompanied by UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown. 

In Indonesia, they found that “clearly, the process of democratic governance needed to be further strengthened”, as they assessed local political developments.  For that reason, they intended to continue their engagement with civil society, the press and with the parliament and judiciary.

The priority in India was the ongoing disaster relief and rehabilitation work in Gujerat.  They also reviewed earlier efforts by UNDP and other agencies in Orissa.

Meeting with the new President of the Philippines, they discussed a poverty reduction program.  The UNDP would be contributing to an employment summit proposed by the Philippine Government in the next few months and, together with the International Labour Organization (ILO), it was planning to help the government develop a strategy for employment. 

In Thailand, the primary agenda was to develop a partnership with the Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok.  

The purpose of their visit to East Timor was to assess the progress of the rehabilitation effort there, as well as to explore the role UNDP could play in future development efforts.  They also investigated mechanisms that could be put into place to facilitate elections expected in August.  In addition, they had been asked to contribute to the preparation of a national plan by the transitional administration and the political structure in East Timor.  That plan would be launched after independence.

At the moment, he said, the United Nations system, as a whole, was carrying the responsibility for the transitional administration.  “But we are now trying to transit, if you like, gradually from a kind of political and administrative involvement to more of a development role." 

“In the initial stages”, he continued, "it’s a question of the rehabilitation of the infrastructure.  And we, along with other international agencies such as the World Bank, are actively engaged in that process.  And I would expect that after the elections and the establishment of a national government that we would be in a position to play a much more active role in the actual process of development and reconstruction in that country.”

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