Hon. Kaliopate Tavola In Bilateral Talks With East Timor

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade Hon. Kaliopate Tavola met with East Timor’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Hon. Jose Ramos-Horta on Sunday at the Sheraton Denarau. The meeting is the first tentative steps towards the establishment of diplomatic relations between Fiji and East Timor, the first new country of the Millennium. East Timor was first colonized by the Portuguese in 1520. The Dutch who claimed many of the surrounding islands took control of Timor until the 1860 treaty which granted Portugal the eastern half of the island. East Timor remained under Portuguese control until 1975 when the Portuguese abruptly pulled out.

It was invaded by Indonesia and annexed on July 16 1976.

In a 1999 referendum East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia. The UN Transitional Authority in East Timor [UNTAET] which Fiji was a part of governed the territory from 1999 until nationhood was declared on May 20, 2002. The president is Jose Alexandre Gusmao and the Prime Minister is Mari Alkatiri.

In his statement Mr Ramos-Horta thanked Fiji for the support it offered to grant East Timor observership to the upcoming ACP Leaders Summit in Nadi. As an island developing country they were also keen to learn from Fiji’s experiences specifically on the development of its economy and human resource.

Minister Tavola in response reiterated that Fiji would gladly support East Timor for full membership of the ACP Group and to be signatory to the Cotonou Agreement. East Timor also has observer states in the Forum Secretariat.

Fiji was also keen to explore areas of technical assistance that East Timor required. This could be reflected in the form of a Framework Agreement or Memorandum of Understanding. Fiji would also be progressing dialogue on the establishment of formal diplomatic relations. Mr Ramos-Horta indicated that East Timor is looking at establishing a diplomatic mission in Suva at the earliest in 2003.