In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

On January 9, 2009, the President of Timor-Leste’s National Parliament, Fernando La Sama de Araujo, officially inaugurated the Parliamentary Research Center. The Center will be staffed with eight Timorese researchers who will work to develop creative approaches to policy analysis, anticipate legislative needs, and respond to specific requests from legislators in a timely and impartial manner. The objectives of the Center, which is located within the National Parliament, are to maintain parliamentary library resources and IT infrastructure, to strengthen legislative research functions, and to preserve official documents.

The Center was established through a partnership between the U.S. House Democracy Assistance Commission, the Timor-Leste National Parliament, and the U.S. Library of Congress, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and The Asia Foundation. The Asia Foundation will provide technical assistance during the first year of the program; and later in 2009, the Center will be fully incorporated into the administration and structure of National Parliament. Currently the Center is equipped with four researchers, a Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) manager and staff, and one IT assistant.