President Gusmao

Today, in my capacity as Executive Director of the Foundation for Post Conflict Development, I presented President Xanana Gusmao the FPCD donation of funds raised in the last month to our sister Foundation. President Gusmao was sincerely greatful for the attention of the FPCD and all the friends and supporters of the New York Foundation for their solidarity and support in Timor-Leste's time of need. On Saturday we will meet again with other members of the Fundacao Xanana Gusmao to determine the best way to utilize the funds.

President Gusmao and I also discussed many issues related to the current crisis in the context of his plans to create a Special Secretariat that will be coordinated with the Government and the United Nations Development Programme. This Secretariat will be responsible for integrating the views of various actors in order to arrive at conciliation within the communities. It is projected to be a structured process that will have a proposed timeline in order to keep the work on track. The main goals of this programme is to achieve mutual acceptance, despite individual differences, while working together to rebuild the houses that were burnt down during the recent uprisings. The FPCD will follow this programme closely and present more information as it becomes available.

I also presented President Gusmao a copy of the signed Memorandum of Understanding between FPCD and Grafica Patria, underlining the Foundation's committment toward post conflict development in Timor-Leste through the creation of meaningful employment.