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Timor-Leste has supports of most ASEAN member countries to join the bloc: president


Dili (Xinhua) - Timor-Leste has secured supports from most of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries to join the organization in 2012, Timor-Leste President Ramos Horta said here on Saturday.

Speaking in a press conference conducted in Dili's international airport of Nicolau Lobato on his arrival from touring some ASEAN countries, President Ramos Horta said that Timor-Leste had just pocketed supports from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2012.

"I just met the prime ministers and foreign affairs ministers from those countries that pledged 100 percent supports of those countries for Timor-Leste to join ASEAN. Regarding that, I ask all parties in the government to draft plans and good strategic moves in the meantime before Timor-Leste joining ASEAN in 2012," Ramos said.

Before the supports pledged by those four ASEAN countries, Timor-Leste already pocketed the supports from Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines. It makes the newborn country secure the supports from eight of 10 ASEAN countries at the moment.

Ramos said that Timor Leste needs to take more efforts in developing its economy, trade, human resources and agriculture sectors so as to make the country complies with the existing requirements to join ASEAN.

"As of today, we are at the level of 10 percent from the requirements to join ASEAN. We have to take extra efforts to address those sectors," the president said.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=571626&publicationSubCategoryId=200

Chinese Peacekeeping Squad Leaves For East Timor

BEIJING, May 11 (Bernama) -- A Chinese peacekeeping police squad left here early Tuesday for East Timor to join United Nations missions in the Southeast Asian country, Xinhua news agency reports.

It is the 15th peacekeeping police squad China has sent to East Timor since 2000.

The 24-member squad, with an average age of 34, will replace their counterparts from eastern China's Jiangxi Province, who have been in East Timor since February last year.

Eight out of the 24 police personnel had previously participated in United Nations peacekeeping missions.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, China has sent 1,597 police for UN peacekeeping missions to East Timor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Liberia, Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan since January 2000.

Portuguese-speaking East Timor, an island nation at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago and north of Australia, became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century in 2002.

China sent its first batch of peacekeepers to East Timor in January 2000 to help restore security after factional violence.

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=497113

Technip Awarded Subsea Contract for the Kitan Field Development Project in the Timor Sea
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Technip (Paris:TEC - News) (ISIN:FR0000131708) has been awarded a contract by Eni for the Kitan field development project. This field is located in approximately 350 meters of water, in an area of the Timor Sea jointly administered by Timor-Leste and Australia, 500 kilometers off the Australian coast and about 250 kilometers south of the Timor-Leste capital of Dili.

The contract covers:

* project management and engineering,
* supply and installation of 23 kilometers of flowlines(1) and risers(2),
* installation of the umbilical(3) system.

Technip’s operating center in Perth, Australia will execute the contract. The pipelines will be manufactured at the Group’s plant in Le Trait, France.

Offshore installation is scheduled to start in the first half of 2011 using the Venturer, a construction vessel from Technip’s fleet.

This award reinforces Technip’s position in the expanding Subsea market in Asia Pacific.

(1) Flowline: flexible or rigid pipe laid on the seabed for the transport of production or injection fluids.

(2) Riser: a pipe or assembly of pipes used to transfer produced fluids from the seabed to surface facilities, and transfer injection or control fluids from the surface facilities to the seabed.

(3) Umbilical: an assembly of steel tubes and/or thermoplastic hoses. Umbilicals can include electrical cables or optic fibers to support communications, power supply and telemetry functions.

Technip is a world leader in the fields of project management, engineering and construction for the oil & gas industry, offering a comprehensive portfolio of innovative solutions and technologies.

With 23,000 employees around the world, integrated capabilities and proven expertise in underwater infrastructures (Subsea), offshore facilities (Offshore) and large processing units and plants on land (Onshore), Technip is a key contributor to the development of sustainable solutions for the energy challenges of the 21st century.

Present in 48 countries, Technip has operating centers and industrial assets (manufacturing plants, spoolbases, construction yard) on five continents, and operates its own fleet of specialized vessels for pipeline installation and subsea construction.

The Technip share is listed on Euronext Paris exchange and over the counter (OTC) in the USA.http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Technip-Awarded-Subsea-bw-928956576.html?x=0&.v=1

East Timor PM prepared to block Sunrise gas: report
CANBERRA, May 31 - East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is prepared to block the multi-billion dollar Timor Sea development of the Greater Sunrise gas field by Australia's Woodside Petroleum <WPL.AX>, a report said on Monday.

Woodside and partners have come under pressure from Dili over their plan to develop a floating liquefied natural gas platform to exploit the fields.

Gusmao was quoted as telling The Age newspaper: "many developing countries fall victim to the corporate resource giants exploiting and plundering their sovereign resources".

"Timor-Leste will be the country that goes down in history as the nation to put a stop to it," Gusmao added.

The Greater Sunrise field straddles the waters of East Timor and Australia and hold 5.13 trillion cubic feet of gas as well as 300 million barrels of valuable condensate.

Australia and East Timor reached a deal four years ago to split billions of dollars of field royalties, but East Timor has insisted the gas should be piped and processed onshore to create much-needed jobs, and its own petroleum industry.

Partners in the Greater Sunrise field are U.S. major ConocoPhillips <COP.N>, Shell <RDSa.L> and Japan's Osaka Gas <9532.T>.

The Age reported Woodside last week walked out of Dili's National Petroleum Authority regulator after it refused to accept the company's draft plan for a floating platform.

The NPA insisted Woodside submit parallel plans for pipelines to both Darwin and East Timor.

Timorese leaders will later on Monday intensify their campaign for the gas to be piped to East Timor for processing, The Age said, accusing Woodside and its partners of pressing for a floating plant so that it can develop new technology.

Unless there was a deal helping lift Timor's people from poverty, "then we will wait until many generations have learnt the lesson that humanity comes before commercial realities", Gusmao was quoted as saying.

"We will be the nation that others follow. Oil giants will be forced to change their indecent behaviour," he said.

Woodside has said the East Timor government's opposition to its development plan was premature, arguing that the floating LNG plan was the most compelling and would bring more revenue to the citizens of East Timor than any other option.http://ph.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20100530/tbs-woodside-timor-7318940.html

Ramos-Horta urges AusAID to rethink funding cut
East Timor's president has criticised Australia's overseas aid program for cutting funding to what he says is one of the few effective aid projects in his country.

Dr Jose Ramos-Horta called for AusAID's decision to be reversed in a letter to Australia's ambassador.

He says during his visit to Australia later this month he will tell Prime Minister Kevin Rudd some home truths about what happens to a lot of the international aid money sent to East Timor.

In particular, Dr Ramos-Horta is unhappy with AusAID's decision to cut funding to a project run by the not-for-profit group Peace Dividend Trust.

He says the trust's marketplace project stands out because, unlike most donor-funded projects, it produces tangible results such as creating jobs for the East Timorese and is helping the nation's economy develop.

The project aims to steer foreign aid funds directly into the Timorese economy and to reduce the amount spent on international companies and consultants.

"I'm very disappointed. They could at least have consulted with people like me. They know I follow the issues here on Australian aid and other donors' aid very closely," Dr Ramos-Horta said.

"This is how Australian taxpayers' money can really have an impact."

Program at risk

The founder of Peace Dividend Trust, Scott Gilmore, says in three years $16 million has been redirected to poor Timorese entrepreneurs.

"So for example right now when an international company or the UN issues a tender for contract we translate that and distribute it to Timorese companies," he said.

"And then perhaps most importantly we work in the poorest rural areas helping any international agency that happens to be operating out there to buy their food and water locally, any goods they might need, as opposed to having it brought in from overseas or buying it in the capital of Dili."

Australia has spent about $600,000 on the project since August last year.

Mr Gilmore says the project is likely to shut down next month without AusAID's support.

A spokeswoman for AusAID says Australia's aid to East Timor is focused on areas of greatest need such as health and that difficult decisions have to be made when allocating finite resources.

But last month the Australian Government said it would review the use of foreign advisers.

Dr Ramos-Horta says the marketplace project is in line with Australia's aid priorities.

"Australia had made as one of the commitments to inject more money in rural development, in rural communities," he said.
"The Peace Dividend Trust is the best channel so far that I know of in this regard that would match Australian alleged priorities."http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/australian-news/7375013/ramoshorta-urges-ausaid-to-rethink-funding-cut/

Timorese president arrives for visit
East Timorese president Jose Ramos Horta has touched down in Adelaide on Monday for a five-day visit that will take in Canberra, Lismore and Sydney.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner will meet Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Governor-General Quentin Bryce. He'll also plant trees, open a new Timor-Leste embassy in Canberra, and receive an honorary doctorate from the Southern Cross University.

Issues between the two countries include the ongoing presence of Australian troops in East Timor and the fallout from the 2008 assassination attempt on Dr Ramos Horta.
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Australian woman Angelita Pires was tried and cleared over the plotting of the attempt. She blames Dr Ramos Horta for the case against her and says she intends to sue him for defamation.

East Timor was a Portuguese colony and was then occupied by Indonesia, sparking an independence campaign and tensions between Australia and Indonesia.

Dr Ramos Horta campaigned for independence during those years.http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-national/timorese-president-arrives-for-visit-20100621-yrso.html

Timor-Leste urged not to be anxious for being ASEAN member
Foreign Minister of Singapore Jorge Yoe said that Timor-Leste should not be anxious to apply for being member of the Association of the Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), but it had to make self-preparations, Televizaun Timor-Leste reported on Thursday.

Yoe stressed that Singapore did not close the door to Timor- Leste to become member of the ASEAN, but he preferred Timor-Leste to create proper conditions before applying it.

During three-day visit in Timor-Leste, Yoe plans to meet the country's leaders to talk on Singaporean's position of endorsing Timor-Leste to become member of the ASEAN.http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100820/wl_asia_afp/etimormyanmardiplomacydemo_20100820160931

E.Timor seeks 'strong' commercial ties with Myanmar
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DILI (AFP) – East Timor's president said Friday his country is seeking to improve relations with Myanmar, including commercial ties.

"We want to increase our relations," President Jose Ramos-Horta said after meeting Myanmar's foreign minister during a visit that drew protests over human rights abuses in military-ruled Myanmar.

"This is in accordance with Timor-Leste policy, which aims to improve relations with neighbouring countries," Ramos-Horta said, referring to his country by its official name.

"And in order to improve commercial ties, Timor-Leste Foreign Minister Zacarias Da Costa will visit Myanmar with a business representative soon. The aim is to start a strong commercial relationship with Myanmar," he said.

Ramos-Horta said East Timor had also urged Myanmar's military regime to open a dialogue with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Timor-Leste's position, and also that of the international community and ASEAN, is that if the dialogue occurs, then it should aim to free her to become a regular citizen," he said.

The visit by Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win was marked by protests, with clashes breaking out between police and human rights activists demanding Suu Kyi's release.

Dozens of protesters gathered at Dili airport as Nyan Win arrived Friday to meet with Ramos-Horta and other senior officials, protest organisers said.

Scuffles broke out as police seized banners and other written material condemning human rights abuses in Myanmar, where Nobel laureate and democracy leader Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for years.

"We are here to bring support to our friends in Burma in their struggle to release political prisoners and to stop continuous human rights violations there," rally coordinator Carolino Marques said, using Myanmar's old name.

"Aung San Suu Kyi must be released immediately and the military junta must be toppled as soon as possible."

A tightly controlled election scheduled in Myanmar on November 7 has been been condemned by activists and the West as a sham aimed at cementing decades of military rule.

Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past 20 years in detention, is barred as a serving prisoner from standing in the election.

Her National League for Democracy -- which won the last election in 1990 but was not allowed to take power -- it is boycotting the vote.

Nyan Win is expected to leave East Timor on Sunday.http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100820/wl_asia_afp/etimormyanmardiplomacydemo_20100820160931

China exempts East Timor's products from customs tax

Dili, East Timor, 20 Aug – The Chinese government has given complete customs tax exemption to products from companies based in East Timor, the economic attache to the Chinese embassy in East Timor, Yang Donghui said in Dili Thursday.

During a meeting to present the free trade area set up in January by China with the Association of East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Timor plans to join, Yang Donghui said that the aim of opening up the Chinese market was to support the development of the Timorese economy.

“In order to promote economic development in East Timor and boost economic and commercial ties between China and East Timor, the Chinese government has committed to giving zero tariff treatment to 95 percent of products from East Timor, as was outlined in letters exchanged by the two governments in April,” said Yang Donghui.

According to the Chinese economic and commercial attache, “on China’s side everything is ready for, in an initial phase, 60 percent of goods that are part of the agreement can benefit from a "zero tariff,” which covers 4,762 types of goods, such as birds and other animals, aquatic products, primary agricultural products, wood and furniture, machinery, textiles, minerals and many other items.”

Yang Donghui also said that China was contributing to Timorese development, making East Timor a more competitive country that is capable of attracting foreign investment. (macauhub)

http://www.macauhub.com.mo/en/news.php?ID=9992

Local students build school in Timor
Nine Brisbane highschool students - with the help of professional tradesmen and trade teachers - have assisted a small Timor community by building a two-room school in the mountains south-west of Dili.

Timor's hills were alive with the sound of hammers when nine senior highschool boys from south east Queensland headed for Timor Leste last month to build a two-room school in the mountains south-west of Dili.

The prefabricated building, complete with forty desks was completed in a week as the teenagers work under the supervision of tradesmen and trade teachers from their schools.

Village leaders in the Samalate district recently told the mission organisation, Communidado Edmund Rice, that a local school was their greatest need. Brother Bill Tynan, who heads the CER team working with five remote villages called his life-long friend Brendan Lawler, principal at St Edmund's College, Ipswich. Mr Lawler rang around the local building industry and contacted other Edmund Rice colleges.

"This project is part of our ethos in education," said St Laurence's principal, Ian McDonald. "A holistic education for these young men includes opportunities for them to serve a community with their skills, strength and spirit. Their eyes will be opened wide and a community will be changed for years to come."

And youthful enthusiasm, significant sponsorship and local knowledge added up to a very quick response from students.

"We had to go through a selection process," said Mike McCarthy, a Technical and Trades teacher at St Patricks. "The number of boys we interviewed were more than we needed."

Finally it was fifteen students and staff from St Patrick's Shorncliffe, St Edmund's Ipswich and St Laurence's Brisbane, with two professional tradesmen, who left Brisbane one morning and rolled out their swags in a hostel high in the mountains of East Timor that night.

A brave truck driver brought a shipping container with an 18 metre shed, plus all the cement and other equipment, along four wheel drive tracks, to within five kilometres of the cliff top building site.

In addition to the remoteness of the site, there were many other challanges faced by the builders, who carried water in buckets to the site, and completed the construction without electricity.

The kit building was modified into a two-classroom school overlooking the Railaco Valley - and although many would dismiss it superfically as a two-car garage, the shed is a major improvement on the dirt-floored bamboo hut that students were previously using.

"Since we've come here, [the shed] seems like a state of the art building," said Jason, one of the students involved.

"For the kids to have a classroom - I think it's wonderful."http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/09/02/3000389.htm

President of Timor-Leste says more commitment, less bureaucracy will help developing countries
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 26 (PNA/Xinhua) -- Jose Ramos-Horta, the president of Timor-Leste, said here Saturday that developed countries could do more to help poorer countries with development, particularly with if they can streamline the processes providing international assistance.

The statement came as the president was addressing the general debate of the UN General Assembly, which focused this year on the UN's centrality in global governance.

The president said that although he was grateful for assistance provided to the least developed countries (LDCs) from developed countries, he was "disheartened" by the failure of many developed nations to meet official development assistance (ODA) pledges, in spite of the large sums they provided for bailouts of banks and industry during the recent global financial crisis.

Ramos-Horta said another positive step towards assisting developing countries would be to relieve them of their debt.

"We believe that one wise and fair way to assist countries suffering from the consequences of the financial meltdown is to write off all of the debt owed by the LDCs and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and to restructure the debt of other debtor countries," he said.

Ramos-Horta added that countries receiving ODA would benefit more from donations if fewer funds were spent on bureaucratic processes and more went directly to people on the ground.

The world's rich countries agreed to give 0.7 percent of their gross national income as official international development aid, annually.

However, only five European countries, including Norway, the Netherlands and Demark, have carried out their pledges.

"The multiple layers of rules, regulations, procedures and bureaucracy constitute a real obstacle to aid effectiveness," he said. "Bilateral and multilateral donors must also reform and streamline their own aid mechanisms."

The need to increase efficiency in the provision of international assistance extends to the UN as well, Ramos-Horta told the assembly.

"Some UN agencies and programs that advise us on good governance and human resources development are themselves in dire need of reform to make them more effective, leaner, and expeditious in delivering on their responsibility," he said.http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&nid=4&rid=302897

La Niña blow to crops
August floods destroyed her vegetable gardenDILI/SUAI, 29 September 2010 (IRIN) - An unrelenting rainy season linked to La Niña has dragged on for months in Timor-Leste and left farmers without a June harvest and unsure when to plant for the next one.

Farmers in the southern district of Covalima usually plant from late November to March and again from April through June, but floods replaced the harvest in July. Erratic weather pummelled the southern coast, flooding fields, destroying 200 homes and affecting 1,400 families, according to the government’s disaster management directorate.

In Matai village, farmer Augusta Monis Maya, 25, said floods ruined all 3ha of her maize crop. “For the past two weeks, we have had to buy [maize] at the market at US$1/kg… We are [surviving] by selling coconut oil. If people run out of money to buy coconut oil, which I sell at $2 per bottle, I will need to lower the price.”

Coils of washed-up rice lay in Gaspar Fernandes’ now dry paddy. His family harvested 20 sacks of rice this year - 50kg - versus 400 sacks in 2009.

“I kept waiting for the flood waters to recede so we could harvest the rice and thresh it. It just did not happen this year,” he said. Flooding washed away insecticides he had sprayed, leaving the crop vulnerable to pests. “In my 10 years of rice farming, this is by far my worst harvest,” said Fernandes.

Eight out of 10 people on the half-island of 1.1 million depend on agriculture for food or livelihoods, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Most farmers grow rice, which makes up 75 percent of the Timorese diet, or maize.

Volatile weather

Meteorologists have linked this year’s exceptionally long rainy season to the Pacific Ocean cooling phenomenon known as La Niña. The US-based National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration has linked periodic changes in temperatures in the Pacific Ocean - El Niño and La Niña - with volatile weather worldwide.

Timor-Leste’s capital Dili received 76 percent more rainfall by August than for 2009 as a whole, according to the national weather service.

FAO estimates this year’s erratic weather has already led to a 7 percent decline in crop yields compared with 2009.

“When there is a drop in production, it is not only food we lose, but seeds for the next planting season,” said Chana Opaskomkul, FAO’s emergency programme officer based in Dili.

Timor-Leste imports at least half of the 200,000MT of food it consumes annually, according to FAO estimates. Crop losses, under-exploited land, bad seeds, policies that favour imports and now increasingly inclement weather have limited local production.


Photo: Phuong Tran/ IRIN
Unthreshed rice after the storm
Erratic conditions

The national weather service predicts more volatile weather in December and early 2011, according to the service’s Meteorology Director Terencio Moniz. Based on past patterns of La Niña, the US-based Pacific Disaster Center expects conditions to be as erratic or worse for the rest of the year.

“These rains will push the dry season back. If farmers try to plant when they normally do in November, but the rains haven’t stopped, we are looking at potential crop failures [in 2011],” said Opaskomkul. “We should not overestimate [the destructive power] of La Niña, but we must be cautious.”

With higher-than-average food prices in 2009, FAO provided seeds to 30,000 families in Timor-Leste in 2009. Following a 2009-2010 bumper crop, FAO did not distribute seeds in 2010, but with crop failures expected in early 2011, it is prepared to resume seed distribution to 10,000 families.http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90624

East Timor in no rush to endorse refugee centre
EAST Timor's Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa has warned a refugee processing centre in Timor could take "a bit longer" than Australia wants.

But speaking on the final day of Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's whistlestop tour of the region to drum up support for the refugee centre idea, Mr da Costa said Dili remained genuinely open to the concept, provided it enjoyed support across the region.

"I think the issue could take a little bit longer than the Australian government (may) possibly want," Mr da Costa told The Australian.

His remarks came as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' regional representative Rick Towle said his organisation had had "general" discussions about the proposal, which was announced by Julia Gillard in the lead-up to the federal election.

"There have been some general discussions about what might be the elements of good regional co-operation," Mr Towle told The Australian.

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Some sort of involvement by the UNHCR has emerged as common ground among all the countries involved in discussions about the processing centre.

In Dili and Jakarta for talks this week, Mr Bowen said any centre established by Australia would be run in accordance with UNHCR principles.

Mr Towle said the UNHCR supported the basic idea of enhanced regional co-operation, but said it would be premature to discuss the Gillard government's Timor proposal specifically.

"We are interested in discussing how to strengthen refugee protection in Southeast Asia," Mr Towle said.

"A variety of options are under discussion, but what's key is that there are comprehensive arrangements with all states affected by people movement."

On Monday, Mr Bowen said one of those options involved a number of processing centres in countries outside East Timor.

Yesterday, Mr Bowen met Malaysia's Home Affairs Minister Seri Hishammuddin bin Tun Hussein in what was the final leg of his tour through the region.

His visit followed a pre-election commitment by the Prime Minister to establish an offshore processing centre in Timor that would house Australia-bound asylum-seekers, who would be eligible for resettlement in partner countries.

The minister met East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta and Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, in Dili and Jakarta earlier this week.

Mr Bowen and Mr Ramos-Horta agree that any refugee processing centre established in East Timor would be an open facility, as opposed to a detention centre.

Mr Bowen also agreed to limit the length of time spent at the facility to three years.

Yesterday, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison leapt on the concession.

"It was naive to give that commitment because the only way to underwrite that commitment is to guarantee residency in Australia," Mr Morrison said.

"They haven't thought this through. The more they touch, the worse things get."

Mr Bowen returns to Australia with a commitment from East Timor to work up a detailed model on how the centre might operate.

That model will then be discussed during the Bali Process, a regional gathering aimed at combating people-smuggling, to be held in January or February.http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/east-timor-in-no-rush-to-endorse-refugee-centre/story-fn59niix-1225938921115

Migration group launches Timor-Leste soap opera
http://genevalunch.com/files/2010/10/east_timor_un_voting2007_steve_tickner.jpg
UN peacekeeping helped get ballots to outlying areas during 2007 voting in East Timor

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - One of the more unusual challenges of an aid organization has surely been the launching of a soap opera in Timor-Leste. The telenovela, as the country’s first-ever soap opera is referred to, was launched Friday 15 October with the purpose of promoting public dialogue about community conflict issues.

Timor-Leste, popularly known elsewhere as East Timor, was torn by conflict from 1975 to 1999, during its occupation by Indonesia shortly after it declared its independence from Portugal. It was recognized as a nation by the United Nations in 2002.

“Suku Hali”, or “Shade-Tree Neighbourhood” is the name of the show that will be broadcast every Friday at 18.30 over the next 20 weeks on Timor-Leste’s national TV station TVTL.

The telenovela is the first major Tetun-language soap opera. It addresses social issues associated with a 2006 crisis when communal violence displaced over 100,000 people from their homes, mainly in the capital, Dili, says the Geneva-based International Migration Organization (IMO).

“‘Suku Hali’ is a drama written to appeal to a broad audience and follows the fortunes of two orphans who migrate to the city and struggle to understand their new environment. The story uses realism to encourage audience identification but is built around two themes—’Everything is interconnected’ and ‘You must choose your future’—to create a positive story that promotes peace and reconciliation.” Some of the issues still affecting Timorese society include land disputes, youth disaffection and unemployment, demographic shifts, population pressures and factionalism.

The project has been funded by the European Commission Stability Instrument.

According to wikipedia, East Timor is one of only two Catholic countries in Asia, the Philippines being the other, and it is the second lowest in Asia on the Human Development Index.http://genevalunch.com/blog/2010/10/15/migration-group-launches-timor-leste-soap-opera/

East Timor government prepares review of Oil Fund Law

Dili, East Timor, 16 Nov – The East Timor government Wednesday is due to analyse the proposal to review its Oil Fund Law, which outlines where oil revenues may be invested, a source from the prime minister’s office said Monday in Dili.

Since the creation of the fund, in 2005 - despite only having revenues from a single field, Bayu-Undan, which is jointly explored with Australia – the rise in oil prices has provided East Timor with a significant fund of US$6.604 billion and no domestic or foreign debt.

The law, as it currently stands, requires that at least 60 percent of oil revenues be invested in US Treasury bonds, with a rating of AA or above, and an average maturity of less than six years and investment in other assets must be applied to foreign debt issues, with liquidity and transparency negotiated on highly-regulated financial markets.

As the five-years in which the Oil Fund Law could not be altered are now up, three major issues are being debated in relation to its review – the rise in the percentage that the government can withdraw from the Fund (currently just 3 percent), the possibility of the Timorese State accessing foreign funding, when through that route it can pay lower interest rates than those it receives from its financial applications, and finally, the diversification of its assets.

The first issue involves the government’s Strategic Development Plan, which outlines significant investments in infrastructure and creation of an industrial base that the country does not yet have.

The second issue relates to negotiations to receive loans from China, Japan and even Portugal, which announced the creation of a credit line for East Timor and the third issue is a question of diversifying assets.

Meanwhile the Timorese Banking Authority (ABP), the country’s future central bank, said in Dili that the Oil Fund had had a return of 1.62 percent in the third quarter, and its current value stood at US$6.604 billion.

The Oil Fund Law specifies that the ABP is the agent responsible for the operational management of the Fund and the Finance Ministry is responsible for defining the Fund’s overall investment strategy.

http://www.macauhub.com.mo/en/news.php?ID=10498

E.Timor leader pushes for ASEAN membership

SINGAPORE, Wednesday 1 December 2010 (AFP) - East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday it would be symbolic if his fledgling country gained ASEAN membership next year when former occupier Indonesia takes over as chair of the regional bloc.

"If it is under Indonesia and Timor-Leste joins ASEAN as the 11th member at the summit in Jakarta in November 2011, it would elevate Indonesia's statesmanship, it would elevate ASEAN," Ramos-Horta said in Singapore.

"So we are determined and working towards membership in ASEAN," he told a forum organised by the Asia office of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Indonesia will assume the revolving chairmanship of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2011 from Vietnam.

As chair, it will host the group's annual summit and related meetings and steer the agenda for the year.

East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 as it moved towards formal independence, starting a brutal 24-year occupation.

It won its freedom in a 1999 UN-backed referendum that was marred by violence as Indonesian-backed militias laid waste to much of the country in a scorched earth campaign that displaced hundreds of thousands.

East Timor gained formal independence in 2002.

Besides Indonesia and Vietnam, the other ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Ramos-Horta said ASEAN members had voiced support for East Timor's bid to join the bloc, and he proposed that his country be allowed a timeframe to meet any membership commitments once it was admitted.

"We have visited all ASEAN countries and everyone has agreed politically that Timor can join," said Ramos-Horta.

"Of course there are questions about stability in Timor (and) can we deliver on commitments like attending meetings," he added.

"We believe that more important is that we join now and then have a five-year period whereby we take steps, with ASEAN support, to fulfil any obligations, criteria that (are) still missing at the time that we are joining ASEAN."


http://www.mysinchew.com/node/48859

Timor-Leste welcomes 2011 with resolve
Press Release: Government Of Timor-Leste

The Secretary of State for the Council of Ministers and Official Spokesperson for the Government of Timor-Leste

Ágio Pereira

January 3, 2011

Díli, Timor-Leste

Government of Timor-Leste welcomes 2011 with resolve and support of the People

“2010 marked a milestone in Timor-Leste” noted Secretary of State Ágio Pereira, “For 430 years, we have been subject to the trials of occupation, war, transitional authorities and subsequent uncertainty and instability. This year, however, we stand in a new Timor-Leste. A Timor-Leste deserving of the peace attained. One that is bustling with markets and parks, children in school and people filling our churches during this holiday season. We are united in a common vision with a focussed purpose, a direction which has been fostered by the uncompromised determination of our People.”

The eight year old, half island country in South East Asia of less than 1.2 million citizens will bring in the new year with a resounding level of nationalism having surfaced from cyclical crises since 2002, to reach some of the most notable economic and social improvements globally in 2010. Prime Minister, His Excellency Xanana Gusmão, and his Government have been credited for uniting the country by aggressively pursuing an agenda of reformist policies and establishing the primary conditions for the People to rebuild their nation. Timor-Leste now reflects an upwardly mobile and stable nation emerging from poverty. Some 96,000 people rose from extreme poverty after US$1.4i billion of public spending delivered a 9%ii decrease in poverty, reversing the trend of rising poverty revealed in 2007 which had peaked at 50%iii. Unemployment has plummeted with latest statistics revealing an average of 95% of men age 30-49iv and approximately two in five women aged 15-49v were classified as currently employed. The development trend towards progressive urbanization is emerging. In 2007 85% of all Timorese were employed in the agriculture sector, now 67% of employed men and 61% of employed women are engaged in agricultural jobs with the sales and service sector now employing 22% of women and 14% of men.vi Health indicators are improving rapidly. 78% of children are now treated for basic illnessesvii, 86% of mothers now receive antenatal care of some degree (an increase of 41%)viii. The incidence of malnourished women has decreased by 29% in the past decadeix. Millennium Development Goals have been reached for infant and under five mortality rates. Successful treatment of TB patients reached 85%x and in 2010 the fertility rate fell to 5.7xi, a decrease from 7.8 in 2003xii.

Living conditions have improved. Overcrowding which increases the risk of contracting infectious diseases has been reduced with half of the households in Timor-Leste have three or more rooms for sleepingxiii. Nearly one in two households now has access to drinking water on the premises.xiv The proportion of households with electricity has increased 12% since 2003, 83% of households in urban areas have electricity, compared with about one in four (24%) households in rural areas. The Gusmão Government has now promised 100% coverage, a primary condition for all social and economic growth.

Benchmarked against global indices, Timor-Leste’s economic growth in 2009 of 12.9%xv was the highest growth rate in the region and the national economy was ranked as one of the top ten fastest growing economies in the world for both 2008 and 2009.xvi Reforms to Public Finance Management have been a hallmark to growth. In the World Bank Doing Business Report, reforms to the taxation system increased the global rank from 75 to 19 and overall Doing Business improved by 7 placesxvii. The 2010 United Nations Human Development Index records an increase in rank of 11 places since 2005 with Timor-Leste now in the medium human development categoryxviii and the recent 2010 Corruption Percepetion Index from Transparency International shows an increase in rank of 19 places over the past 12 monthsxix.

Timor-Leste was the third country in the world to achieve full compliant status with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Revenue Watch Institute and Transparency International ranked Timor-Leste in 2010 as being in the top group of countries with comprehensive revenue transparency.xx Petroleum revenues skyrocketed in 2010. Timor- Leste recorded an increase of 38% from 2009 levels with the highest petroleum revenues on record of US$2.172 billion; funds which will be utilized now and in the future to heavily invest into the nation and the People. Secretary of State for the Council of Ministers Ágio Pereira noted “Our people are diversifying, becoming entrepreneurial and innovative, we are working together to overcome extreme obstacles and challenges inherent to our conditions as a young, fragile nation. While we are an impoverished nation, we are not poor; and we will mobilize our resources to ensure peace, growth and a prosperous Timor-Leste for all future generations. However, it is our past generations and this generation that can be credited for today, for our successes in 2010 and for what we are to achieve in 2011. Our biggest asset is the profound sense of dignity of our People which ensured us freedom and sovereignty. It remains the overriding foundation of success, for the present and future generations.” ENDShttp://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1101/S00013/timor-leste-welcomes-2011-with-resolve.htm

Indonesia backs East Timor's bid to join ASEAN

Jakarta - Indonesia said Sunday that it would support East Timor's bid to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

'Right now ASEAN has 10 members and we have heard that Timor Leste (East Timor) wishes to join and we openly support it,' Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.

The tiny state with a population of 1 million was occupied by Indonesia from 1975-99 and suffered a rampage by pro-Indonesia militias after a referendum on its independence.

The regional bloc's foreign ministers met in Indonesia on the weekend to discuss the ASEAN community and its role in a global context.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1612064.php/Indonesia-backs-East-Timor-s-bid-to-join-ASEAN

WIKA secures $16.9 million power plant project in Timor Leste
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 02/08/2011 12:08 PM | Business

Publicly listed constructor PT Wijaya Karya (WIKA) said Monday it had secured a US$16.9 million power plant project in Timor Leste.

WIKA president director Bintang Perbowo said the power plant, with an anticipated capacity of between 50 and 100 megawatts, will be executed by WIKA subsidiary, PT WIKA Insan Pertiwi.

“This project is expected to be completed on Feb. 20, “ Bintang said Tuesday as quoted by kontan.co.id.

The firm, along with PT Mirlindo Padu Kencana, also plans to build a 50 MW diesel power plant in Pesanggaran, Bali, worth Rp 550 billion (US$ 61 million), he said.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/02/08/wika-secures-169-million-power-plant-project-timor-leste.html

Protests over East Timor’s Electricity Project
TEMPO Interactive, Kupang:The people of Haumeni Ana in Northern Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara, which borders with Oecusse district in East Timor, have protested the construction of a solar cell electricity network being built by the East Timorese government.


"The people protested because the construction activities were conducted in the neutral zone of both countries," Haumeni Ana village chief, Siprianus Asuat, told reporters yesterday. He said the people had conveyed their objections to East Timorese government representatives in Oecusse.


The solar cell electricity network construction has been ongoing for the past three months and the activities have raised tension in the border area.http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2011/06/20/brk,20110620-341928,uk.html

Timor-Leste’s Tasi Mane Project
Part of Timor-Leste’s Strategic Development Plan is the building of three industrial clusters on the country’s southwest coast, which will be the backbone of its petroleum industry. But civil society groups have warned that the ambitious project will have little impact on the economy.

The Tasi Mane (Male Sea) Project will involve the development of an integrated petroleum infrastructure in the coastal zone from Suai to Beaço over the next two decades. The plan includes the construction of the Suai Supply Base cluster, the Betano Refinery and Petrochemical Industry cluster, and the Beaço LNG-Plant cluster. More: http://the-diplomat.com/asean-beat/2011/10/17/timor-leste%E2%80%99s-tasi-mane-project/

Companies from China, Japan and South Korea interested in oil and gas exploration in East Timor

Macau, China, 21 Oct – Companies from China, Japan and South Korea has shown interest in oil and gas exploration in East Timor, but an agreement has yet to be signed, the Timorese minister for the Economy and Development, João Gonçalves said Thursday in Macau.

“There have been some initial contacts, not only with Chinese companies, but also with South Koreans companies and Japan is also interested,” the minister said speaking to Portuguese news agency Lusa.

However João Gonçalves said that “at the moment nothing has been signed,” and explained that a “Timorese state company,” had been set up, “to negotiate every possible partnership for exploration of oil and gas in Timor.” (macauhub)

http://www.macauhub.com.mo/en/2011/10/21/companies-from-china-japan-and-south-korea-interested-in-oil-and-gas-exploration-in-east-timor/

East Timor: South Korea to import gas from the Timor Sea as of 2013

Dili, East Timor, 15 Oct – South Korea Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with East Timor to import natural gas from the Timor Sea as of 2013.

The memorandum was signed at the Government Palace, in Dili, by the Timorese prime minister, Xanana Gusmão, and by the South Korean economy minister, Lee Youn-ho.

This is the first energy agreement signed by the Timorese state with a foreign country since its independence in 2002, and is to guarantee imports by South Korea of natural gas from the Greater Sunrise field.

The agreement also includes the possibility of a consortium led by state company Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) surveying other gas fields in East Timor, according to the Korean minister.

With this agreement, South Korea will be given priority access to importing natural gas from the Greater Sunrise field, whose reserves are estimated at the equivalent of seven years of Korean consumption.

Signing the memorandum is part of the Government’s efforts to make it feasible to bring the Greater Sunrise gas pipeline to East Timor, as the country’s Natural Resources minister, Alfredo Pires told Portuguese news agency Lusa.

The location of the pipeline, along the East Timor coast or next to Darwin, Australia has yet to be decided and has led to discussion and contacts with Australia and some controversy between the authorities and companies from both countries.

The Greater Sunrise field is located in the Joint Oil Development Area, shared by East Timor and Australia.

South Korea is the world’s second largest importer of natural gas. (macauhub)

http://www.macauhub.com.mo/en/2008/10/15/5904/

Dili Airport

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5266/5695019635_5411a45434_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kazuto/5695019635/)
P5040545 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kazuto/5695019635/) by tokotasi (http://www.flickr.com/people/kazuto/), on Flickr

Map of dili
http://www.seacitymaps.com/timor/dili_thumbnail.gif
http://www.seacitymaps.com/timor/dili_map.htm

Timor-Leste: Establishment of a Central Bank

On 13 September 2011, the Banking and Payments Authority of Timor-Leste ("BPA") was transformed into the Central Bank of Timor-Leste under Parliamentary Law No 5/2011 ("Organic Law of the Central Bank"). The establishment of the Central Bank, which has broader powers than its predecessor the BPA, further demonstrates that the State of Timor-Leste (East Timor) is progressively putting in place its financial and economic architecture.

The new Central Bank, which is an independent and autonomous public entity, is managed by the Governor, who is supported by two Deputy Governors, and a Board of Directors comprised of the Governor, the two Deputy Governors and four non-executive members. The Governor of the Central Bank is currently Abraão de Vasconselos.

Under the Organic Law of the Central Bank, the Central Bank's primary objective is to achieve and maintain domestic price stability. In addition, the Central Bank will also promote and maintain a stable and competitive financial system based on free market principles and support the general economic policies of the Government of Timor-Leste.

To achieve its objectives, the Central Bank has, amongst others, responsibility for the following functions:

* To define and implement monetary policy

* To define and adopt the exchange rate system

* To conduct foreign exchange operations

* To hold and manage official foreign reserves

* To hold and manage the State's reserves of gold

* To issue and manage the currency of Timor-Leste

* To establish, promote and oversee sound and efficient payment and securities settlement systems;
* To regulate, license and supervise financial institutions such as banks, non bank deposit taking institutions (eg micro- financiers), insurance companies, insurance intermediaries and currency exchange bureaus; and
To act as the fiscal agent of the State.

The Central Bank is also the operational manager of Timor-Leste's sovereign wealth fund- known as the Petroleum Fund- in accordance with the operational agreement it signed with the Government of Timor- Leste on 25 June 2009. As at 31 October 2011 the Petroleum Fund had assets of just over US$9 billion.

http://www.mondaq.com/australia/x/158308/Banking+Law/TimorLeste+Establishment+of+a+Central+Bank

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5187/5695019001_e3aed69713_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kazuto/5695019001/)
P5040531 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kazuto/5695019001/) by tokotasi (http://www.flickr.com/people/kazuto/), on Flickr

East Timor and China on Marty’s Asean Agenda

Indonesia will try to help East Timor become the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ 11th member while pushing for completion of a human rights declaration this year during the group’s summit in Cambodia this week.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Indonesia will also build on its success as the group’s chair last year in creating a clearer ruling in the ongoing dispute over the South China Sea and persuading nuclear powers to join the Asean pact to forego nuclear weaponry.

“It’s impossible to have a Southeast Asian community while leaving one country in the region behind. We should have a vision that Timor Leste is part of the Asean family,” he told the Jakarta Globe on Friday, referring to East Timor.

He played down suggestions that East Timor, a former Indonesian province before voting to break away in 1999, was unfit for Asean membership due to its lack of resources.

“We should see this application as part of a bigger picture and not merely get stuck on technicalities,” Marty said.

East Timor officially submitted its application to Asean on March 4 last year, when Indonesia held the chairmanship. The current chair is Cambodia.

Despite Indonesia’s support, Singapore has resisted East Timor’s application, fearing the country could hamper the group’s effort to become a full-fledged community by 2015. Other member states have been largely indifferent to the proposal.

At a Bali summit in November, Asean leaders formed a task force to review the country’s application. Marty said the grouping’s foreign ministers are awaiting the recommendation of the task force.

The minister, however, would not say whether the country could be accepted before 2015.

Besides the East Timor issue, Indonesia will also seek to persuade other members to agree on a draft of the group’s human rights declaration despite Cambodia’s discouraging human rights track record.

“Asean’s performance is determined by the 10 members. Of course, the chair plays a crucial role. But Indonesia and Cambodia have good ties,” he said.


Full Article: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/east-timor-and-china-on-martys-asean-agenda/508838

Former guerrilla Ruak elected East Timor president

DILI (AFP) - Former guerrilla Taur Matan Ruak has won East Timor's presidential run-off by a wide margin, preliminary results showed Tuesday, in a pivotal year for the nation almost a decade after independence.
Ruak, who had campaigned in military fatigues to highlight his role in the fight against Indonesian occupation, won 61.23 percent of the vote, according to figures from the elections secretariat, which organised Monday's polls

His challenger Francisco Guterres -- also a hero in the independence struggle and popularly known by his nom de guerre "Lu Olo" -- trailed with 38.77 percent, according to the count.
All the results have been counted but they must be examined by the court of appeals before they are officially announced.
"We are very much elevated by the result, by the current outcome," said Ruak's spokesman Fidelis Magalhaes.
"We expect to see some changes (in the final count), minor, probably one or two percentage points, but without a clear swing or fluctuation of points," he added.

If confirmed, Ruak, also a former defence chief, will become the leader of the impoverished and oil-dependent country, replacing Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta, who trailed in third place in the first round on March 17.
The streets of Dili were quiet Tuesday, with no sign of celebration, unlike the campaigning when hundreds of supporters from both sides sped past on motorcyles and buses, flashing victory signs.

An international poll observer said the wide margin left no room for dispute over the results.
"If there was a close result there could have been some quarrelling, and while it's not a landslide, this is a clear victory," said Rui Feijo, an election observer and researcher from Portugal's Coimbra University.

The vote marked the first in a series of key events in the chronically unstable country, still traumatised by Indonesia's brutal 24-year occupation which ended with a 1999 referendum for independence.

In May, East Timor will celebrate 10 years of independence, which came after three years of United Nations administration. On July 7, voters will choose a new government in a general election.

The UN has said peacekeepers stationed in East Timor since 1999 would pull out as planned by the end of 2012 if both elections were peaceful.
A spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday's vote had taken place in a "peaceful and orderly manner".

While Ruak, 55, sought to burnish military credentials throughout the campaign, Lu Olo, 57, has shed his guerrilla image, earning a law degree and campaigning in a suit and tie.

Ruak, who resigned as defence chief late last year to run for president, has vowed to introduce mandatory military service if elected.

He has been accused by the United Nations of involvement in illegal weapons transfers in 2006 when rioting and factional fighting left the nation on the brink of civil war. However, no attempts have been made to prosecute him.

While the presidency is largely ceremonial, it has enjoyed a high profile under Ramos-Horta.
Among East Timor's many teething problems as a fledgling nation is its heavy reliance on energy reserves, which account for around 90 percent of state revenues.

East Timor is labelled by the International Monetary Fund as the "most oil-dependent economy in the world", relying on a petroleum fund that reached $9.3 billion last year.
More than 458,000 Timorese, or 73 percent of more than 627,000 registered voters, went to the polls Monday, the elections secretariat said.


http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/13448539/former-guerrilla-ruak-elected-east-timor-president/

East Timor plans tandem port projects

East Timor is planning two new ports to help ease congestion at the capital, Dili, with both the north and south coasts set to benefit from the ambitious development plan.

The Southeast Asian country will use its oil revenues to establish new sea ports at Tibar on the north coast and Suai on the south coast.

Tibar which is described as "a national priority for the development of our nation" by Timor's Stratgegic Development Plan, will be a multi-purpose port with a capacity of 1m tonnes/per year and will cater for commercial cargo and passengers.

Suai will be a logistics base for the oil and gas sector with the new port being its centrepiece.

"It will be a multi-purpose seaport and include a container park, warehouse logistics area and fuel storage facilities. The port may also provide shipbuilding and repair facilities," said the Strategic Development Plan.

http://www.portstrategy.com/news101/asia/east-timor-port-plans