Jakarta, Dili begin high-level talks
Jakarta, Dili begin high-level talks
Agencies, Jakarta
Officials from Indonesia and its former province of East Timor began two-day, high-level talks on Friday, the second such meeting since the territory became independent in May 2002.
East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri opened the Joint Commission meeting in Dili, which is expected to discuss issues including territorial borders, legal matters, finance, trade, education, culture, transportation and communications.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda met his East Timorese counterpart Jose Ramos-Horta and began talks behind closed doors on various residual issues of the separation.
Hassan is also slated to meet with East Timor President Xanana Gusmao, Alkatiri and Parliamentary Speaker Francisco Guterres.
In exchange, East Timor Commander of the Defense Forces Brig. Gen. Taur Matan Ruak visited Jakarta on Friday to meet with his Indonesian counterpart Gen. Endriartono Sutarto.
However, Endriartono failed to show and did not send any official explanation for his behavior.
"It is necessary to create a conducive political climate so that (East Timor) can continue to develop," Director General for Asia, Pacific and Africa Makarim Wibisono of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quoted as saying by Associated Press.
The agenda for the talks will also include the repatriation of remaining East Timorese refugees, who crossed into Indonesian-run West Timor, he said.
Indonesia will also seek compensation for its nationals who lost property in East Timor when it withdrew in 1999.
East Timorese officials say they want to discuss several issues including property rights and pensions for East Timorese, joint border patrols on land and sea and unfettered access to Oecussi, an isolated enclave inside Indonesia that belongs to East Timor.
The two-day meeting is to end today and is expected to yield various agreements to settle the residual issues.
The two neighboring countries have been striving to settle many of these problems after a violent separation following the 1999 UN-sponsored referendum for an independent East Timor.
The Indonesian Military (TNI)-backed East Timorese militia was accused of earth scorching and gross human rights violations during the mayhem of 1999.
Indonesia was once put under international scrutiny to send its TNI officers to the International Court of Justice to be tried over these violations.
However, citing the importance of its post-independence relationship with Indonesia, East Timor said it preferred to move forward and concentrate on the future of the two countries.
During the first joint commission meeting in October 2002, the two governments agreed to establish border markets and to draft a regulation to accommodate the border-crossing tradition of people living in the area.