João Afonso Fialho gave an interview to Jornal Económico in which he discusses the development and challenges of the mining and petroleum industry in East Timor, especially in the context of the last ten years.

In the interview entitled ‘Work in the mining industry in the last decade is remarkable for an island country’, the VdA lawyer praises the progress made by a country with limited resources. ‘Rarely have I come across a job so well done, considering the scarce human, financial and logistical resources available to political decision-makers and public affairs managers, as I have seen happen in the Timorese mining sector. We must continue on the right path,’ he emphasised.
 
For João Afonso Fialho, the creation of a solid legal framework was the first crucial step in attracting investment, allowing, in a second phase, for the mapping of mining potential and the consequent publicising of the country in the region, ‘exposing it to the numerous mining companies that proliferate there’.
 

‘The work is far from finished,’ he says, but even though this is a sector in the early stages of development on an industrial scale, João Afonso Fialho emphasises that there is a “high export potential to the whole of Southeast Asia”. In addition, he adds that ‘due to their lower technical complexity and financial requirements, the exploitation of these minerals is allowing the participation of national entrepreneurs and, if there are no problems, these same entrepreneurs could form the basis for the development of the industry in the future when other minerals of greater strategic importance and economic relevance are exploited’.

  • This interview is available here.