[{"bbox": [97, 153, 1134, 313], "category": "Text", "text": "The Parliament is also an important stakeholder in the agreements and accession negotiations and implementation. During the processes, the Parliament should work with the government to prepare a Legislative Action Plan to anticipate the changes of laws and regulations once Timor-Leste joins the WTO and ASEAN. After the conclusions of the negotiations, the Parliament is expected to review the agreements and ratify them for implementation. The Parliament is also expected to work with the government to revise or adopt the laws and prepare the regulations to comply with the ASEAN/WTO/EPA rules and commitments."}, {"bbox": [97, 324, 1134, 537], "category": "Text", "text": "The **private sector companies** and the people of Timor-Leste are the ultimate beneficiaries and stakeholders of the agreements. Government should work with the private sector institutions, including women-led businesses, to obtain their inputs in the negotiation process and to inform them of the progress, and finally the private sector should benefit from the increased trade and investment opportunities brought by these agreements. In the meantime, the private sector should work with the government and parliament to implement the commitments and obligations under the agreements that imply their active participation and involvement. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Timor-Leste (CCI-TL), Business Association of Women of Timor-Leste and other sectoral business associations are key stakeholders from the private sector."}, {"bbox": [97, 549, 1134, 788], "category": "Text", "text": "In addition, these agreement implementation will have huge economic, social and environmental impacts on the country and the lives of the people. Therefore, some **civil society groups and non-governmental organisations** are important stakeholders as well. These include the women and youth, environmental groups, consumer and human rights groups or organisations, etc. Their views and opinions should be also taken into consideration during the agreement negotiations and implementation. They have rights to participate in the process, know the impacts on their businesses and lives, and eventually work with the government and other stakeholders to implement/monitor the commitments. As the first step, it is important to increase the public awareness and inform those stakeholders of the status and progress of ASEAN/WTO/EPA negotiations and invite them to contribute to the processes."}, {"bbox": [86, 828, 603, 860], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION"}, {"bbox": [86, 894, 507, 925], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 3.1 Objectives and Expected Outputs"}, {"bbox": [97, 940, 1134, 993], "category": "Text", "text": "The **Overall Objective** of this Action is to support Timor-Leste's economic integration and trade in the South East Asia region."}, {"bbox": [97, 1019, 846, 1046], "category": "Text", "text": "The **Specific Objective** of this Action is to promote trade and regional integration."}, {"bbox": [97, 1073, 1005, 1100], "category": "Text", "text": "The **Expected Outputs** of this Action that contribute to the above overall and specific objective are:"}, {"bbox": [135, 1102, 1134, 1208], "category": "List-item", "text": "* Outputs Area 1: Improved coordination and consultation mechanisms for preparation of the accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the ASEAN Economic Community (ASEAN/AEC), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), among government agencies, the Parliament, civil society and the private sector;"}, {"bbox": [135, 1210, 1134, 1288], "category": "List-item", "text": "* Outputs Area 2: Enhanced capacity of government agencies, the Parliament, civil society and private sector institutions in the negotiations, accession and implementation of ASEAN/AEC, WTO and EPA agreements, and"}, {"bbox": [135, 1291, 1134, 1369], "category": "List-item", "text": "* Outputs Area 3: Increased public awareness of the opportunities and challenges arising from the negotiations, accession and implementation of the ASEAN/AEC, WTO and EPA, particularly with special assistance to the private sector, MSMEs and women-led businesses."}, {"bbox": [86, 1384, 366, 1411], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 3.2 Indicative Activities"}, {"bbox": [97, 1430, 1134, 1564], "category": "Text", "text": "To support Timor-Leste's priority to develop and diversify its economy by increasing its integration within the Southeast Asian region and to the multilateral trading system, the proposed Action will provide technical assistance and capacity building to Timor-Leste in the process of acceding to the ASEAN and WTO respectively, and to the negotiations of the Pacific EPA with the EU. The Action will have the **indicative activities** in the following three Outputs areas:"}, {"bbox": [97, 1589, 1134, 1642], "category": "Text", "text": "**Activities Related to Outputs Area 1:** Improved coordination and consultation mechanisms for preparation of the accession to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the ASEAN Economic Community"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1681, 1143, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 8 of 22"}]