E. Timor gets foreign help

E. Timor gets foreign help

SINGAPORE (AP): Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on Saturday agreed to launch a program to help East Timor develop its human resources, officials said.

The program would likely involve Japanese funding to train East Timorese personnel - police, for example - in Singapore, Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Chikahito Harada said.

"In East Timor, they don't have an established police system yet. They have to develop that," Harada told The Associated Press.

Japan might suggest using its system of koban, or small neighborhood police boxes, in East Timor, Harada said.

Japan has pledged US$100 million toward helping develop East Timor, a former Indonesian province which was torn by violence in the process of gaining independence last year.

Kono, who arrived in Singapore Friday, was scheduled to visit Indonesia later Saturday and East Timor Sunday, to meet leaders in both countries. He was slated to return to Singapore Sunday and to Japan on Tuesday.