It is the Timorese government's responsibility to provide more training and development opportunities for the national workforce, the country's secretary for youth and sport has claimed.

Speaking to the Guardian Weekly, Miguel Manetulu said that the government has already cooperated with firms in the oil and gas industry to lead recruitment drives, in addition to supporting a work exchange programme with Korea, but that presently these have only had limited success because Timorese workers currently lack the training to excel in skilled sectors.

"The problem is that our young people do not have sufficient qualifications to compete in many jobs. It is the responsibility of the government to provide more training," he insisted.

The paper added that the minority of people that achieve formal qualification by the time they reach adulthood are often ill-equipped to work because the country's tertiary education system is wholly unregulated.

Elsewhere, Al Jazeera has reported that despite gaining independence six years ago and sitting on vast oil and gas reserves, East Timor is still crippled by poverty.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development