Dili, March 17, 2024
The 82nd Coordinating Committee for Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP) Steering Committee Meeting, 4 - 7 March 2024, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
From March 4th to 7th, 2024, the Instituto de Geociências de Timor-Leste (IGTL) and the Autoridade Nacional dos Minerais (ANM) participated in the 82nd steering committee of CCOP, held in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. The event, hosted by the Ministry of Mines and Energy of Cambodia, was attended by delegates from various member countries, including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam, as well as the CCOP advisory group, the Director, and staff of the CCOP Technical Secretariat.
The main highlight of this meeting was the re-engagement of Timor-Leste into CCOP after 7 years of hiatus. This achievement was the result of collaborative efforts led by His Excellency Francisco da Costa Monteiro, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Timor-Leste, and Mr. Young Joo Lee, Director of CCOP. As a result, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources formally nominated Mr. Job Brites dos Santos, President of Instituto de Geociências de Timor-Leste (IGTL), as the Permanent Representative, and Mr. Rafael Danilson Magno de Araujo, President of Autoridade Nacional dos Minerais (ANM), as the Deputy Permanent Representative to CCOP.
Timor-Leste's 7-year absence resulted in missed opportunities, such as advanced knowledge sharing in geoscience and other important areas. Therefore, this re-engagement is crucial as it will facilitate knowledge sharing, foster collaboration among member countries, particularly in geoscience, and provide scholarship opportunities for Timorese to pursue master's and PhD degrees in geoscience in developed countries such as Japan, South Korea, and China.
Member countries of CCOP warmly welcomed Timor-Leste's reintegration and expressed hopes that Timor-Leste would fulfill its obligations as a member country and benefit from this involvement. Additionally, during the meeting, CCOP presented and discussed various agenda items, including the CCOP Progress Report for the period of January 1st to December 31st, 2023, Consideration of New Initiatives and the Proposed CCOP Workplan for 2024, Report of the 27th CCOP Select Finance Committee (SFC) Meeting, Consideration of the CCOP Revised Budget for 2024, and other relevant agenda items.