Dili, 13 November 2001

JOINT BORDER COMMITTEE MEETING POSTPONED

A three-day Joint Border Committee meeting between East Timor and Indonesia scheduled to begin tomorrow in Dili has been postponed.

Indonesia’s Department of Foreign Affairs informed its East Timorese counterpart of the postponement yesterday, citing administrative difficulties.

Indonesia has proposed rescheduling the meeting for next week. East Timor’s Government is currently reviewing the proposal.

The Joint Border Committee was established in September 2000 to build and foster good relations between East Timor and Indonesia, and further the normalization of activities along their common border, including trade and movement of people with relatives on either side.

The last meeting of the Joint Border Committee was held in Jakarta in July.

GERMAN GOVERNMENT TO HELP FUND OECUSSI FERRY SERVICE

The German Government has announced it will provide the equivalent of US$915,000 to support a ferry service between East Timor’s enclave Oecussi district and the East Timorese mainland.

The aid will fund the hire of a suitable passenger ferry that, with the help of a US$200,000 grant of Portuguese emergency funds and UNTAET support, could begin ferrying passengers by the end of this year.

The Oecussi ferry service was suspended in August due to safety concerns, and as of last month UNTAET has been providing additional flights to help alleviate the impasse.

The aid from Portugal is expected to help fund the ferry service until East Timor’s independence next May, following which the German assistance should help keep the ferry in service for another two years. Passengers on the ferry will be expected to pay a yet-to-be-determined fee.

MORE EAST TIMOR POLICE OFFICERS GRADUATE

Eighty eight cadets graduated from the Police College in Dili on Saturday, bringing the strength of the UNTAET-trained East Timor Police Service to more than 1,200.

The training given at the Police College has included administration, investigations, crowd and traffic control, close protection, along with patrolling and conducting operations with their international CivPol counterparts.

The East Timor Police Service has a projected target of 3,000 trained officers by the year 2003.