⊗
speach mark left

To look to the sea is to look into the future. To look after the sea is to ensure a sustainable future”.

Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão

Prime Minister’s Message

The sea is crucial to human life and is a central element in the lives of the Timorese.

It provides us with virtually everything we need: food, health, connectivity, entertainment, inspiration, and prosperity.

The sea is inseparable from our identity, our history, our sustenance, and the way in which we see the world and connect with it.

I could point out a few brief examples of this connection, such as our insertion in the CPLP space, bounding over the sea and the Portuguese language, or in the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), with which we share many similarities and challenges, or even the way we position ourselves in the Coral Triangle Region, the region with the greatest marine biodiversity in the world, and consequently a global priority in terms of conservation.

We are born out of the legend of “grandfather crocodile”. Our half island emerged from the sea thousands of years ago and started receiving different people from Asia and South Pacific, who came to settle in our shores. As time went by they started moving from the coast into the country. From fishermen we became farmers. Still, no matter how tall our mountains may be, we never lose sight of the sea!

Now we want to look at our sea with a strategic vision so that we can start thinking about a more sustainable future for our people.

Timor-Leste’s story is one of hope. In addition to petroleum resources, the Timor Sea is also home to areas with the highest concentration of biodiversity in the world.

Timor is TASI! The Sea will give us a Blue, Sustainable, and Innovative future.

Our proximity to the ocean gives us access to broad and rich biological, geological, mineral and geostrategic resources. This means that our economy and the sea are inseparable.

Through our vision and ambition for the growth of the Blue Economy, we will seek to use the ocean to sustain our development, while doing everything we can to protect and conserve it.

In Timor-Leste we have coral reefs containing the greatest biodiversity in the world. We have warm waters and beautiful tropical beaches. We also have an annual migration of blue whales, we have dolphins and dugongs around our coast.

We will improve the way in which we understand and use our sea. This requires wisdom and a great deal of respect. There are many opportunities for a blue development that safeguards and uses the sea responsibly.

As Prime Minister and the Government’s Special Representative for the Blue Economy, I can say that Timor-Leste wants to play an active role in the international arena, to promote and protect the ocean, as well as to ensure that maritime resources are managed responsibly. Timor-Leste advocates strengthening global governance towards this purpose.

We are linked by an ocean and united in common challenges.

And since you can’t protect what you don’t know, first and foremost we want to invest in ocean literacy and in making our communities aware of the importance of marine resources and biodiversity. We want greater civic education on ocean issues.

We want to start precisely with our children and young people, “distributing breaths from the sea”… This is a project that we will be announcing very soon, acknowledging that education is an important starting point for promoting the long-term construction of the blue economy.

Thank you very much.
Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão