RI, East Timor set to sign border agreement at AMM next week

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta

In a major breakthrough in their embryonic relationship, Indonesia and its former province East Timor are set to ink a preliminary border agreement at an upcoming ministerial meeting of southeast Asian nations in Jakarta, an official at the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste (East Timor) said.

"Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda and his East Timor counterpart, Ramos Horta, will sign the border agreement on June 30," Counselor Juvencio de Jesus Martins told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Indonesia, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will host an ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) on June 29 through June 30.

Ramos Horta will be present at the opening of the AMM as a guest.

Martin said senior officials from the two countries were holding a two-day meeting in Bogor, West Java, to hammer out final details of the border pact. The meeting, which began on Tuesday, was due to end on Wednesday.

"The two countries have reached agreement on 90 percent of its border while the remaining 10 percent will be discussed further after the signing," he added.

He said the East Timor delegation was led by Nelson Santos, secretary-general of the East Timor Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty A. Natalegawa said the agreement boded well for future relations between the two countries.

"This is a very important agreement," Marty said on Tuesday.

"Border issues are one of the key residual issues that have resulted from the separation of East Timor from Indonesia."

The agreement is expected to improve security and help reduce rampant smuggling between East Timor and Indonesian-held West Timor.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and ruled it until 1999, when the province's people voted overwhelmingly for independence in a United Nations referendum.

The turbulent relations began improving even before East Timor became independent in May 2002. Tens of thousands of refugees have returned home, militias have largely been marginalized and trade between the two countries is on the rise.