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Timor - US Relations

The United States and Timor-Leste enjoy excellent bilateral relations based on shared interests and values. The United States has a large bilateral development assistance program--roughly $25 million in fiscal year 2010--and also contributes as a major member of a number of multilateral agencies such as the United Nations, Asian Development Bank, and World Bank. U.S. assistance focuses on bolstering stability by strengthening the foundations of good governance, accelerating economic growth, improving the health of the Timorese people, and supporting the professionalization of the Timorese security forces. Aid from the United States to Timor-Leste from 2000-2010 totaled over $300 million. Timor-Leste maintains an embassy in Washington, DC and a Permanent Mission in New York at the United Nations.

In partnership with Timor-Leste and New Zealand, USAID supported the creation of over 110 Community Police Councils, which provide forums for local communities to discuss security concerns directly with the police. USAID has also supported civil society monitoring of the security sector and provided technical assistance to increase the Office of Inspection and Audit’s oversight of the national police force. Nearly 600 youth from across the country were involved in USAID’s Youth Engagement to Promote Stability Project, which mobilized youth to support conflict prevention and resolution while fostering leadership, community involvement, and dialogue with authorities.

The U.S. State Department, in partnership with the U.S. Navy and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, supported efforts to strengthen Timor-Leste’s sea and land borders, training nearly 200 security officials. We have also worked in coordination with the Australians to train local police forces in investigative methods, and are currently working with the International Organization for Migration to strengthen Timorese security forces’ capacity to prevent and respond to human trafficking.

Since 2002, the U.S. military provided over $5 million in support for the development of Timor-Leste’s armed forces. Nearly 100 Timorese, both civilian and military, have participated in extensive training courses, including areas such as security cooperation and crisis management.

USAID has been working with the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice, helping to support Timor-Leste’s decentralization effort through USAID’s Ba Distrito Project, and has provided technical assistance to over 2,000 members of Timorese political parties to increase transparency and to open lines of communication between the parties and their supporters. Through the open competition for the Ambassador’s small grants program, the US also supported citizen-led efforts to strengthen access to justice for women, combat domestic violence, promote civic education, increase transparency in local government, and fight corruption.

Since 2006, USAID trained over 10,000 health workers in partnership with Timor-Leste and Australia. USAID has also extended health care access to over 200,000 people in remote farming communities through funding for cooperative associated health clinics, increased nutrition in rural households by supporting diet diversity, and saved the lives of both mothers and children by improving preventative monitoring during pregnancies. From 2011-2013, USAID projects helped extend vaccination coverage for serious communicable diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and measles. USAID also strongly supported the drive to eradicate polio, which was completed in 2014. In addition, USAID contributed to Timor-Leste’s successful malaria reduction campaign, providing over 105,000 insecticide-treated nets and training 1,700 volunteers in malaria prevention.