 I am very pleased to be here in Canberra at the Australian National University to deliver this lecture, named after the esteemed Singaporean Philanthropist, Lisa Ndi. This great Australian University is recognized internationally as an understanding research and teaching institution. And it has long been a forum in which to share perspectives and ideas on the relationship between Australia and Timor-Leste. I would like to thank in particular the annual College of Asia and the Pacific and the Australian Institute of International Affairs for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. And of course, my thanks to all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here. I have had the opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made and the lessons we have learned on peace building and on state building. I would like to share with you some of my personal observations on the journey of our nation. In many respects, the lens through which the Timorese perceived the world was formed from our experience of colonialism and then of occupation. We are a smaller nation whose destiny has been perfected by the currents of global power. We learned the hard way that the behavior of nations was often governed by a national interest that was directly connected to the interest of the Timorese people. And we learned that some countries, because of their size, their wealth, of the strength of their forces were more likely to act in an unfair way towards their neighbors, particularly when those neighbors are small and poor. During our occupation, we were at the mercy of the politics of the Cold War. So we had to speak of human rights, international law and democracy, while at the same time supporting a brutal dictatorship in the United States that ravaged our people. From our experience of occupation, we also learned the value of forgiveness. It was during my seven years in an Indonesian prison that I came to realize that we were not fighting against Indonesian people, but against their regime. I realized that the Indonesian people were also suffering under the dictatorship and that many bravely supported the Timorese cause. Our reconciliation with Indonesia gives me confidence that in our region and across the world even the most intractable conflicts can lead to peace. Ladies and gentlemen, with the birth of our nation in 2002, following almost three years of United Nations administration, we had to learn what it was to build a nation in the new millennium. We had to dust off the ashes of the destruction of our country in 1999. And with the palace of the ashes being the somewhat unsuitable place where I worked as the first president of the Republic as the beginning of a complex process of peace building and state building. This process proved to be as challenging as our struggle for independence and forced us to look abroad for models of development and international experience. Regrettably, when we looked at the world, our lands could not hide the conflict, violence and despair in many parts of the globe. While the major world powers may have been at peace, we saw a world of disordered lives with internal conflict and the state fragility that impacted the lives of billions of people. Much of this conflict readily mentioned in the world's capitals until it spread more recently to strategically important regions including the Middle East while the accepted narratives is that much of the conflict in fragile state is driven by religion and extremism. This is a very simplistic analysis that avoids a deeper insight to the root of the problems. When the Arab Spring started, I said in the many forums I participated in that the way in which it took place would result in nothing good as democracy should not be imposed in that way because democracy is a process sometimes long that should respect the idiosyncrasies of each country and of each people. My observation is that conflict and fragility are being driven by poor and marginalized people who have lost hope in a better future. It is a paradox that while we enjoy an increasingly globalized and interconnected world these same trends also deliver directly to the world's poor a constant reminder of a global inequality that is unprecedented in recent times. From Central and South America to the Asia Pacific and across to Africa there are around two billion people facing extreme poverty, hunger and deprivation. It is the daily humiliations and indignities that endure that breath of resentment and fuel disillusionment. Regrettably, we are seeing unsustainable levels of inequality not just between nations but within nations. Across different political systems, the global elite and the super-rich are increasingly controlling capital and natural resources to the exclusion of the rest of us. And yet, we do not seem to have a solution to an economic system that reduce people to a commercial value. The moral bankruptcy and unrestrained greed of the international financial system was laid bare during the global financial crisis. However, despite bringing the world's economy to its knees we seem unable to escape a system that is sucking at our humanity and destroying our planet. It is under this system that large multinationals act in bad faith and with dishonesty in dealing with many of the world's poorest countries while at the same time doing all that they can to avoid paying tax. As I mentioned earlier on relations between neighbors, I have also seen for myself in Africa large countries very rich struggling with extreme poverty and facing conflicts of all types and they tell me that these conflicts are provoked by former colonial powers to control the exploitation of their sources, often by arming so-called rebels or secessionists. Ladies and gentlemen, 2015 is the target date for the millennium development goals that were ambitiously set by the United Nations in 2000, before Timor-Leste even existed as a nation. While progress has been made toward meeting the targets in some parts of the world, not to please China and India, there are still the two billion people I mentioned earlier who live in poverty, in fragile and conflict affected nations which will not achieve even a single millennium development goal. Timor-Leste, unfortunately, is one of those nations. In New York, right now, representation from nations all around the world including Timor-Leste and Australia are meeting to try and develop a meaningful set of new sustainable development goals to provide the framework for the future global development agenda. The main reason, I believe, the millennium development goals failed the poorest and most fragile nations in the world is because the goals did not acknowledge the link between poverty, fragility and conflict. Timor-Leste learned about the link between poverty, fragility and conflict the hard way. In our first years of independence, Timor-Leste struggled to break out of a cycle of conflict and violence. Each outbreak of violence destroyed the development progress we had made, and so we quickly learned that we could not build the foundation of our state without developing resilience and first, securing peace. We did this. Sorry, I recommend you not to smoke. I don't. We did this by providing pensions for veterans, widows, disabled and elderly and we endured the benefits of revenue from our petroleum resources in Timor-Leste spread to the districts by establishing small capital work schemes that gave contracts to the local communities to repair bridge, schools, medical clinics and local roads. I have been blamed for buying peace, but I am happy to be criticized for supporting families to get a home, rise, education for their children and medical care. As we began to reach out to the world and engage in international forums, often with the support of Australia, we realized there were many other nations in the world that were also struggling to maintain peace and failing to meet the targets set by Millennium Development Goals, despite international development assistance. Clearly, something was not working. For the first time in the world history, the nations facing some of the biggest challenges in terms of conflict, poverty and fragility came together to share their experiences. Timor-Leste, I am proud to say, was a driving force in the formation of what came to be called the G7 Plus, a group that now represents the interests of 20 nations that have learned through bitter experience that a global development framework can never actually work if it does not have a focus on building peace. The G7 Plus is also advocating strongly for the sustainable development goals to include a focus on building peaceful communities and we are supporting each other to secure peace in our homelands. As part of this work in September 2013, I traveled to Guinea-Bissau that has been independent since 1974 following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, but has been living at nightmare of 33 years with coup d'etats. The last of each was in 2012 and led to sanctions by the international community that demanded immediate elections. I went there under the auspices of the G7 Plus and we tried together with the many segments of Guinea-Bissau society to put an end to the lethargy of an inexistent state and they undertook the commitment for radical change. Fighting against sanctions imposed by the United Nations and against the demand for immediate elections with the technical and financial support from Timor-Leste, the people of Guinea-Bissau had for the first time ever in their history a modern and effective voter registration system that allowed them also for the first time to participate at the ballot box in honest and transparent elections. The demand of an international community was focused on elections while the legitimate and democratically elected government of Guinea-Bissau remains with advance and unable to do anything. In July last year, Timor-Leste provided to Guinea-Bissau an amount equivalent to one month's salary towards a state administration that had not been paid for many years, expecting that the generosity on the part of the international community would follow. I made such an appeal at the UN General Assembly and they can understand the despair of the Guinea-Bissau government buttoned with basic financial problems in order to demonstrate the credibility of their legitimacy. Ladies and gentlemen, we have also been working with an important institution in the Asia-Pacific to address the factors that are driving conflict and fragility, including inequality and hunger. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific has been driving change to give hope to people throughout our region and from 2013 to 2014 I was honored to be the chair of the 69th session of SCAP. We also recognize that climate change is another force driving inequality and global fragility. Before speaking at the Climate Change Summit in New York in September last year, I participated in the TARDU and International Conference in Samoa. At this conference, we all stress that climate change represents a full frontal threat to the stability of many small islands, nations, and as such, it is a major cause of fragility and conflict which will threaten international security and development. Years ago, days ago, Vanuatu suffered for a cycle. Everything is about climate change. But ladies and gentlemen, last week I returned from the Central African Republic, another country, a rich country with gold, diamonds, copper, beset by infighting and violence. Through the G7 Plus, I was asked by the Government of the Central African Republic to work with the different factions, Muslims, Christians, to all securing a lasting peace. I met them separately and they asked me, who are you? What are you doing here? What is your interest? It was difficult. But I can say, I have confidence. And I will be going back later next month to contribute to this work, to continue this work, but sadly I found this country suffering from some of the same problems that Timur Lester faced and other countries in Africa. Regrettably, the Central African Republic is also subject to misguided and successful international intervention, like in Guinea-Bissau, South Sudan, Diasy, Democratic Republic of Congo, that is failing to address core political and social grievances. And just as we were, the Central African Republic is settled with an effective and ineffective and inept United Nations peacekeeping course. It is a waste of energy, a waste of money from the taxpayers in the Donald's countries. It is sad, sad to recognize this. There has to be a better way to manage international intervention in fragile states. Rather than relying on the same expertise and personnel that continually fail as they move from one fragile nation to the next, we need to recognize and respond to the realities of each situation. We hope the United Nations can start the reform. It is a big, too big organization, too bureaucratic and too expensive. Universal principles need to be respected in the context of a practical and long-term approach that is informed by culture and history of each country and in each region. And so, in the spirit of G7 Plus, we are helping conflict-affected countries to orient themselves towards frank and serious dialogue and to the reconciliation of differences that have been the primary cause of violence that later transformed into armed conflict. I talked to the Muslim faction and after that I met the Christians faction. Nobody addressed their problems, social, political. But I believe after our meeting they committed themselves and we are going together to the disarmament process of many, many small groups all around the country killing each other. Also, in the spirit of G7 Plus, we insist that the fragile states undertake a deep introspection of their weaknesses, needs and potential from where they can have a vision for their own future to build their state and develop their country. When we started G7 Plus, now a minister representing Democratic Republic of Congo came to Delhi and in the meeting he said, I'm so ashamed. I belong to a very rich country. I am ashamed to be here in the Pacific in Timor-Leste to participate in a conference about poverty. Yes, we are poor. This is why we are promoting introspection for all political leaders. We are also warning many countries of the group to not rush into signing contracts for the exploitation of their natural resources because it has become common practice for large companies to take advantage of the lack of knowledge, experience and the great need for finance to impose less fair contractual arrangements. And they so, in Central African Republic, they are exploiting the gold, the diamonds without control and the people are living in poverty. The capital, they are independent since 1960 but the capital, I can say that the deal is better, deal with 12 years of independence is better than 55 years of independence. Amazing, unbelievable. I'm proud to say that we were also invited to help the dialogue and the reconciliation process in Yemen and in Afghanistan, members of our group. We could not say no and we are looking for the right time to go and share our experiences and the experiences of other G7 member states. I can say they took the reference of our reconciliation with Indonesia. After 24 years of killing, more than 200,000 people, we decided not to go to revenge. We decided against many main powers demanding us to bring the generals to ICG. We said no, we put the past to the past. We are going to look forward to have a good cooperation. It was the past. We established a commission of truth and reconciliation. There we wrote everything. The generals, the battalions, how many people they killed, everything. Just to tell us that yes, it was our history. We don't forget. And it will remind us not to cause the same suffering to our people, but we will forgive. That is why from Africa, they are inviting us to share our experience with them. Ladies and gentlemen, in Timor-Lester, I have to say, we did many things in our own way because we knew what was needed in our own country with all its complexities and its past to achieve reconciliation and a transition to peace. Ladies and gentlemen, in Timor-Lester, we have established a foundation of peace which has allowed us to set a long-term vision for our nation. In my new role, I will be responsible for driving the implementation of Timor-Lester's strategic development plan 2011-2013. The plan sets out a pathway to address the many challenges we still face in Timor-Lester, including poverty, fragility, and annoyed petrol-independent economy. It aims to transform Timor-Lester to a middle-income society by 2030. Yes, that is very ambitious, but I believe it can be done. We only have to look to our region to see it in many countries like Korea, without any resources like Indonesia, like Malaysia, and others. And we believe that if we go in the right way, consolidating the state, consolidating the system, consolidating the national unity, consolidating the national vision for the future, we will achieve our goal. Ladies and gentlemen, while I was very happy to relinquish the leadership position after eight years of the helm, I am not relinquishing my long-held goal of achieving full sovereignty for our nation. As you know, as I was told before, I served as president from independence in 2002 to 2007. During that time, much of our inexperienced government's energy was diverted into complex negotiations with Australia about access to valuable oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea that separates our nations, resources that are on the Timor's side of the median line. These negotiations are ongoing, and while I am no longer Prime Minister, I am continuing to pursue my long-shared goal of achieving full sovereignty for our nation as we continue to work for a permanent maritime boundary that is properly determined by international law. Three years ago, the then Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr delivered this letter. Mr. Carr referred to the South China Sea maritime boundary dispute and called on countries to pursue their territorial claims and accompanying maritime rights in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The United Nations agreed with Australia to the development of the resources in the Timor Sea. In the period they were administrating Timor Leste from 1999 to 2002, and on the eve of the restoration of the independence of Timor Leste two months before the restoration. Australia withdrew from the maritime jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in 2002. In this context, Australia's demand of other nations to do what Australia itself refuses to do rings hollow. I was last year with the Prime Minister of Australia in Boao Conference in China. He repeated the same things about South China Sea maritime boundary dispute appealing to all countries to respect international law. We know, ladies and gentlemen, that the great nation of Australia is better than this. That is why we look forward to engaging with Australia in good faith on a process to delimit our maritime boundaries. Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a complex world and face many global challenges. We must not, however, turn our back on war and fragility in the world. We need a renewed global partnership based on cooperation, mutual respect and human dignity. A global partnership that respects territorial integrity. A global partnership based on a development framework that focuses on improving the lives of the most vulnerable, marginalized and disadvantaged people, regardless of where they live. A framework based on a foundational goal of peace. A framework based on trust, mutual respect and good faith. And so, I urge you all here today to do what you can to secure peace in the world so that the poor and oppressed enjoy a better future for a better world. Every day you can think about millions of people without shelter, without food, without medicine. We have to work together for a better world. These people, all of us, this should be the best link between people to people. I have to tell you a story, a very beautiful story done by a former Australian military, a former Australian social. You all know, 1999, the interfaith Major Michael Smith is there. The Australian soldier went to Timor Lester, put an end to the violence from the militias. Two days ago, I was in Melbourne. I went to a coffee restaurant while Timor coffee. And I met the owners, two former soldiers. They're having a very good cooperation with the community in LAO. They buy everything and they sell here. But the amazing one was, the man showed me a photo in 1999 where it was destruction. It was suffering, it was crying. He showed me a photo with a little girl, you know. He promised to the family that he will help her every year. He sent money to the little girl now. She's graduating in geology. Beautiful example. This is humanity. This is what we need. Not only Timor Lester, other countries in the world, other people. I believe the Australian people will continue this way to help other people to get out from poverty. To live like you here. Thank you very much.