The Government of Finland has signed an agreement to support the development of Timor-Leste, the nation formerly known as East Timor, with a further 500′000 euros, bringing Finland’s support to over 1 M€ for the last three years (including, heh, my salary at the time ;) ).

The press release says the money will be channelled to send more advisors to Timor-Leste. I’d love to go. I would if i didn’t have this family… Timor still isn’t the easiest place on a family.

In the picture to the right, we have Ambassador Markku Niinioja of the Finnish embassy in Jakarta (Finland does not have representation in Timor) shaking hands with UNDP Resident Representative (which is a UN understatement for “UNDP country manager”) Dr Sukehiro Hasegawa after the signing. The painting on the wall btw is rather typical of modern Timorese paiting, and i’m a bit sad that i didn’t have space to bring any art with me home from Timor.