Europe provides $44.6m in aid to East Timor
Europe provides $44.6m in aid to East Timor
JAKARTA: The European Commission signed an agreement Monday with East Timor, the world's newest country, to provide 46 million euros (US$44.6 million) in aid over three years.
The funds will be put towards a work program to support East Timor's long-term development, focused on health care, rural development and poverty-reduction targets, the EC said in a statement received here.
"An indicative sum of 46 million euros in grants for 2002-2004 has been earmarked to finance this program for East Timor," it said.
About 80 percent of the infrastructure of the small Southeast Asian state was destroyed in a campaign of terror by pro- Indonesian militias after the country voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Jakarta in August 1999.
The impoverished nation currently has only 47 doctors for a population of 850,000, according to the World Health Organization. -- AFP
Turkey, Russia link up Black Sea pipeline
ANKARA: Russia and Turkey on Sunday completed the construction of a major pipeline which will carry Russian natural gas under the Black Sea to the Turkish capital, the Anatolia news agency reported.
In an official ceremony in the northern province of Samsun on the Black Sea coast, the offshore section of the pipeline was welded to the Turkish section to finalize the conduit's two-year construction.
The 1,393-kilometre pipeline, the second of its kind between the two countries, runs from the southern Russian gas plant of Izobilnoy under the sea to Samsun and then to Ankara.
It runs as low as 2,150 metres at some points, making it the world's deepest undersea link.
The pipeline, dubbed Blue Stream, is expected to become operational in December. -- AFP
South Korea, Chile free trade deal faces hurdle
SEOUL: Talks between South Korea and Chile to establish a free trade agreement (FTA) were deadlocked Monday over Santiago's opposition to opening financial markets, officials said here.
"Our firm position is to include the financial market opening in the FTA while the Chilean side would not agree to that," a trade official said.
The two countries have been discussing the pact since December 1999 and the current round of talks in Geneva since Friday were expected to conclude the deal.
The South Korean side now believes a new round may be needed if it is to conclude its first ever FTA.
"We cannot rule out the possibility that the Chilean side will beak up the negotiations in case we insist on inclusion of the financial market opening," the official said.
The Ministry of Finance and Economy has instructed the Korean delegation to push Chile to include financial markets, Yonhap news agency said.
The two sides have settled differences on other issues, including the exclusion of Chilean-grown apples and pears, and Korean-made refrigerators and washing machines from the deal and the establishment of a five to 16 year grace period for imposition of tariffs on other sensitive products. -- AFP