Djibouti City, Djibouti
5-6 February 2012
Puntland State has embarked to develop its natural resources, including exploration for oil and minerals. As security and development reinforce each other (no security, no development), we need international support to strengthen our security institutions and to advance socio-economic development projects.
We welcome investors to develop economic sectors in Puntland State, such as the development of hydrocarbons, construction and socio-economic infrastructure, livestock, fisheries, agriculture, transport and communications, banking and finance, among other economic sectors. It is noteworthy to mention that Puntland needs to develop its human resources sector, with the particular focus on economic development experts, which is crucial to alleviate poverty, address unemployment and contribute to improving security.
Therefore, we propose as a remedy that food aid supply should be bought from local traders and passed through customs, in order to protect employment and revenue generation. This is a cost-effective strategy that avoids excessive costs in transportation and distribution of food aid in major towns and rural areas.
Somalia is a country whose economy is based on livestock, therefore it is vital to address the scarcity of water in the first instance by undertaking a large-scale sustainable program of drilling boreholes, preventing land degradation and over-grazing, and introducing range management pilot projects. These programs create food security and need sustainable assistance, which is far more cost-effective than rushing relief aid whenever a humanitarian crisis occurs. We believe that more aid should be diverted to create job opportunities for vulnerable youth and to fund labor-intensive projects, such as construction of feeder roads, rehabilitation of existing highways, and support for vocational schools. It is also pertinent to emphasize that these steps will help to boost the security sector across Somalia.
In Puntland State, we continue to improve internal security and we continue to train our security forces, including the Puntland Maritime Police Force, which targets piracy and illegal fishing activities in Somali waters. Puntland security forces have successfully disrupted terrorist cells and our courts have convicted and sentenced terrorists. I send my special thanks and praise to Puntland government forces, who serve to defend and safeguard our freedom and our way of life.
He's back in Djibouti from Dubai, which means he'll be in PL soon to deliver some nice and refreshing updates.To maintain our hard-won peace and stability, it remains vitally important to provide Puntland Government with security-strengthening support, as Puntland’s strategic location has geopolitical significance that is of great importance to international security arrangements. Puntland State urgently needs security sector support as part of the international community’s Somali stabilization efforts, particularly counterterrorism training, investigations, and capacity-building for our courts and prisons.
