SRSG, GUSMÃO, HORTA ATTEND ASEAN MINISTERIAL MEETING

Cabinet Member for Foreign Affairs, José Ramos-Horta, will depart tomorrow, 20 July, to Hanoi, Vietnam, to attend ASEAN 34th Ministerial Meeting on 23-24 July.

The SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello departs to Hanoi on Saturday, 21 July, to lead a delegation that includes his Chief of Staff N. Paranmeswaran, Xanana Gusmão and East Timorese diplomats from the Department of Foreign Affairs of the East Timor Transitional Administration.

For the second year in a row, the host of the ASEAN annual Ministerial Meeting invited UNTAET and the East Timorese leadership to attend the forum. East Timor/UNTAET will participate in the opening and closing sessions.

From Hanoi, the SRSG and Ramos-Horta will travel to New York for the United Nations Security Council Open Meeting on East Timor, to be held on 30 July.

CHINA DONATES US$3 MILLION IN AID TO FISHERIES

Representatives of the People's Republic of China today donated three million dollar's worth of fishing equipment to East Timor in order to assist in the rehabilitation of the fishing industry following the loss of equipment during the violence of 1999.

The donated equipment includes 1,500 panels of fishing net, three tones of fishing line, 500 insulated ice-boxes, 300 outboard motors, 2,00 lifejackets, and other assorted items.

The equipment was presented at a ceremony at Hera, some 20 kilometers east of the capital Dili.