KL delegation to E. Timor

KL delegation to E. Timor

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid
Albar said Tuesday he would lead a delegation to East Timor to
seek investment opportunities and help the violence-torn
territory to develop.

The three-day visit from Wednesday was part of a cabinet
decision to find out what sort of help Malaysia could give East
Timor, Syed Hamid was quoted by the official news agency Bernama
as saying.

It was also a follow-up to requests by pro-independence leader
Xanana Gusmao and the UN administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello who
had visited Malaysia separately earlier this year, he said.

"We hope it would be the first step towards establishing
bilateral relations ... our attitude towards them is sincere and
we will do whatever we can to develop their country," he added.

Bernama said the ministerial-level visit would be the first
among Southeast Asian countries since East Timor voted for
independence in a referendum conducted by the United Nations in
August last year.

Syed Hamid said he would meet Gusmao and de Mello. His 21-
member team of government and private sector representatives
would also attend briefings by the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank in East Timor.