JOINT BORDER COMMITTEE TO MEET IN JAKARTAA Joint Border Committee comprising East Timorese and Indonesian officials will hold a two-day meeting in Jakarta beginning tomorrow, July 19, aimed at resolving practical issues and problems of a cross-border nature.
East Timor's 13-member delegation will be led by Lakhan Mehrotra, Director of UNTAET's office in Jakarta, and will include officials from the East Timor Transitional Administration, the Peacekeeping Force, Civilian Police, Military Observers, and UNTAET's office of Political Affairs. East Timorese Defense Force Commander Taur Matan Ruak will also attend.
The participants will split into four sub-committees to discuss cross border security cooperation; police cooperation; demarcation and regulation of the border; and cross border movement of people and goods.
The Joint Border Committee was established last September and first met in late January of this year.
TWO NEW CABINET MEMBERS SWORN IN
The East Timorese Transitional Cabinet today swore in Ovídio de Jesus Amaral as the Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, following the decision of João Carrascalão to suspend his Cabinet activities during the electoral campaign.
Amaral will hold this position until the formation of the next transitional Cabinet after the 30 August elections for the Constituent Assembly. Nicola Dahrendorf was also sworn in as the Cabinet Member for Police and Emergency Services, until such time as Deputy SRSG Dennis McNamara assumes this Cabinet portfolio.
Cabinet discussed the National Council's proposed revisions to a regulation which seeks to amend existing regulations which established the Transitional Judicial Services Commission, the court system and the Public Prosecution Service. Cabinet recommended that the Transitional Administrator promulgate the regulations incorporating most of the amendments.
Cabinet accepted the National Council's proposed amendments to the draft regulation on the establishment of a Prison Service in East Timor, and referred the text to the Transitional Administrator for promulgation.
Cabinet considered the National Council's suggested amendments to the draft Regulation on the Establishment of the Legal Aid Service in East Timor. Cabinet agreed with some of these amendments and recommended that the Transitional Administrator promulgation the text on this basis.
Cabinet discussed a report from the Infrastructure Department reviewing the operation of East Timor Transitional Administration's land policy.
Finally, Cabinet discussed the need for the Power Service to operate on a financially sustainable basis and tariff structures that would support this.