INDONESIA, EAST TIMOR TO SIGN BORDER ACCORD ON SIDELINES OF ASEAN

Dili, 30 June 2004
Meeting Indonesia will sign a border agreement with its former province East Timor on the sidelines of the ASEAN ministerial meeting in Jakarta this week, an Official said on Tuesday.

The pact is expected to improve relations between ASEAN's biggest country Indonesia and prospective member East Timor, said Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa. It is expected to be signed by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda and his East Timor counterpart Jose Ramos Horta, who has been invited as a guest to Wednesday's opening of the annual meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers. "As a consequence of East Timor's separation from Indonesia, what was in the past a provincial border is no more.

It has become an international demarcation and for that we have to update and plot the demarcation line between the two countries," Marty told reporters. "It is an important document because it covers some 90 percent of common (land) boundaries between the two countries," he said. Signing of the agreement symbolizes that the two countries "are moving forward in our bilateral relations as East Timor is solidifying its status as a sovereign state," Marty said.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 in a move that was never recognized by the international community. East Timor voted to split From Indonesia in 1999, triggering a deadly rampage by pro-Indonesian militias who were armed and organized by Indonesia's military. East Timor became independent in May 2002 after a period of United Nations stewardship and relations with its former ruler have improved in recent years.

The new country is seeking observer status in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as full membership of the 23-member ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which holds its annual meeting here on Friday. "We have a clear indication from many countries that they support (East Timor's) full membership in ARF," said Ramos Horta in a statement Monday.