The Civil Service Commission of Timor-Leste participated in the preparatory meeting and the senior official meeting for the 22nd on ASEAN cooperation in civil service matters (ACCSM), taken place in Brunei Darussalam for two days (09-10 May 2023).
The general objective of this meeting is to do a median evaluation on the implementation of the ACCSM’s work plan (2021-2025), followed by discussions to get consensus on the ACSSM’s work plan post 2025; and how to promote the role of the civil service in contributing to the development of the three pillars of the ASEAN Community, namely political and security, economic and socio-cultural.
The participation of the Civil Service Commission, in line with the guidelines as observer, to accompany, understand and interiorize all the talks presented on the strategic structure developments to provide good collaboration between the ASEAN member country, to share good practices, deliberations, and recommendations he shared in the ASEAN meeting forum in Brunei.
On the presentation regarding the implemented progress of the ACCSM work plan for the period of 2021-2025, it was presented by the ASEAN Secretariate which is under the chairmanship of Indonesia. In the second section, on plan after 2025, it was presented briefly by Brunei, that still led ACCSM for two years. The session continued with interventions or feedbacks from the Asean member States (AMS) and at the end completed with a consensus of the work plan post 2025.
In the second day’s session, Mr Chairman of the ASEAN SOM Meetings allowed the delegation of the CSC president, Faustino Cardoso Gomes, to present a general remarks, through which he thanked for the invitation, and saying that this is the first experience of the Commission to participate in this ACCSM meeting as the observer.
“It is a great opportunity for Timor-Leste to learn about and to familiarise with the functioning of the ACCSM, the running of its meetings, the implementation of its work plan, the rich and valuable experiences of the AMS’s civil service, the good practices of public service deliveries, the strategic HR innovations to build a future ready public service, and indeed to enhance friendship and the importance of sharing and collaboration.
Timor-Leste’s civil service is young and relatively small. It has 36,941 workers and was organised just 20 years ago. Despite our young age, we share the principles enshrined in the ASEAN Guidelines on Public Service Delivery: Accessibility; Participation; Accountability; non-discrimination and inclusiveness; and Responsiveness. Our civil service is relatively mature, with an average age of 47 for men and 43 for women. Bearing in mind that our social security system establishes a minimum retirement age of 60 years, we realise that our civil servants are, for the most part, in the middle and final stages of their career,” refer President of Civil Service Commission in senior official meeting for the 22nd on ASEAN corporation in civil service matter’s (ACCSM).
In conclusion, President of CSC highlights, the joint effort of the Timorese public administration to ensure that its members are prepared and motivated to intensify the exchange of experiences and actively collaborate to achieve the objectives of the ASEAN Cooperation on Civil Service Matters. Finally, we looking forward to learning from all.