I will say a few words of introduction before we give you the floor to ask questions. This, as you realize, is the first working meeting with the Governor of Nusa Tenggara Timor. The first, but certainly not the last. We have agreed that we will be intensifying our contacts and meeting on a more regular basis than has been possible in recent months. The meeting took place in a very positive spirit. We both recognized the need to intensify cooperation between East and West Timor. There are many areas in which these relations can be strengthened, but we decided today to start with perhaps the most urgent. As you can imagine, the problems with refugees is a source of great concern.
We agreed that we should continue working on the question of the pensions of the East Timorese former civil servants in the Indonesian Administration; a subject we have raised repeatedly with the Indonesian authorities and I did again last week, in fact with President Gus Dur and Foreign Minister Shihab. But we believe that unless there is clarity on this question, it is not likely that these persons will take the decision to come home as we hope they will. We also discussed the question of security and how we can provide the refugee population on the other side with guarantees that they can return in safety, dignity and security to East Timor. We have provided all the necessary explanations and assurances to Governor Tallo.
We also discussed border issues, and in particular the opening of the land transit facility between the enclave of Oecussi and East Timor proper, agreeing that we now need to work out very practical modalities so as to enable the population of Oecussi to gain access to the eastern part of the island, as agreed on 29 February when we signed the joint communiqué with Foreign Minister Shihab in the presence of President Gus Dur. And we have agreed on practical measures, which would be reviewed between the 7th and the 10th of June.
Finally, we also had a brief exchange on trade and investment, which is obviously in our joint interest. I remember Governor Tallo saying in late January in Kupang that East and West Timor were in a win-win situation, since they had similar interests and we were faced here with immense needs that West Timor could at least partly meet. We have agreed, therefore, that a small delegation from East Timor will visit Kupang soon to hold more technical discussions with specialists from the government of NTT, as well as with the private sector in West Timor on how to increase trade and investment between the two sides. These are basically the issues we discussed here today, again, in a very positive, forward looking, way. Q. What were the concrete achievements of this meeting in terms of the refugees?
(all questions and answers given in Portuguese) A. As I said in my introduction, that was the major issue of this meeting. We took some decisions on additional measures that should be adopted to accelerate the repatriation process. One of them is wider exchange of information through the media, to fight the misinformation and the many lies that are circulating around in the refugee camps on the western side of the island. We believe that you, the journalists, are our best vehicle in presenting objective and accurate information to the population of refugees on the other side of the border.
Also, we agreed in taking more practical measures, and more meetings at the border at all levels. We received with much satisfaction the news given to us by Dom Carlos that tomorrow Dom Basílio will be going to Atambua where he will celebrate mass on Saturday. We think that the church can have a very important role in building this atmosphere of confidence that is indispensable to the repatriation [of refugees].
Q. Did you decide when you would meet again?
A. No, we decided that we would launch this new phase after our return from the Lisbon Conference.
Q. Is the repatriation process going to be easy?
A. No, and the fact that we are in an impasse [with regard to the number of refugees returning] shows that. But I believe that with the good will demonstrated by the Governor, the repatriation process could be resuscitated, which is what it needs.
Q. All these questions have been discussed for months. Was there any real concrete progress?
A. No, we believe that it is possible to do, at a local level, with the
Government of the western side of the island, progress in these areas,
beyond the discussions we already had in Jakarta or in Denpassar and
Jogjakarta.
Q. What was specifically asked from the Governor
? A. On the refugees?
Q. Yes.
A. I already gave you the list, don t you think?
Q. But what does the governor have to do?
A. The Governor can facilitate visits of East Timorese journalists, he can
facilitate and has agreed to facilitate other type of visits of East
Timorese who will be traveling to Atambua, Kupang and the regions where the
refugees are, to inform directly the refugee population about the reality of
life in this part of the island. And obviously facilitate visits of
religious figures, such as Dom Basílio. We also need the collaboration of
the Government of the western part of the island to encourage the central
authorities in giving us an answer on the pensions of the former civil
servants of the Indonesian Administration.
