JOINT BORDER COMMITTEE MEETING GETS UNDERWAY IN DILI

Some 50 East Timorese and Indonesian officials this morning began a three-day Joint Border Committee meeting in Dili aimed at fostering good neighborly relations and furthering the normalization of activities along their common border.

This is the third time the Joint Border Committee (JBC) has convened, and the first time the committee has held bilateral negotiations in East Timor. The committee last met in Jakarta in July.

The heads of the two delegations, East Timorese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Fernando de Araújo, and the Head of the Research and Development Board at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Muhammad Yusuf, each expressed great satisfaction over the convening of the meeting in Dili, and their strong hope for the JBC's continued progress.

The East Timor delegation is also comprised of the Commander of the East Timor Defence Force Brigadier-General Taur Matan Ruak, Commissioner of East Timor Police Service Paulo Martins, Deputy Force Commander of United Nations Peacekeeping Major General Ian Gordon, among others.

The East Timorese agenda includes developing a general mutual understanding of what "border normalization" entails; to endorse an Indonesian "Right of Transit Passage" proposal that will allow East Timorese to travel between the Oecussi enclave and the other districts of East Timor; and the establishment of six agreed upon Technical Sub-Committees in addition to the four that are already operational.

In the afternoon, the first meeting of the Border Liaison Committee - a local-level civilian forum to address the implementation of border issues between East Timorese officials and those in West Timor - met under the co-chairmanship of East Nusa Tenggara Vice-Governor Johannes Pake Pani and Senior Adviser to the East Timor Ministry of Internal Administration, Francisco Menezes.

It is expected that the recommendations from the JBC meeting will be passed on to the Council of Ministers of East Timor and the Indonesian Government for discussion and approval. Agreements reached will eventually be passed on to the Border Liaison Committee for implementation.

DRAFT CONSTITUTION NEARLY COMPLETE; ONE GROUP OVERDUE

The Constituent Assembly's Systematization and Harmonization Commission today informed the plenary that it had almost finished drafting East Timor's first Constitution, but was still waiting for one of four thematic groups to finish its deliberations.

The Systematization and Harmonization Commission has based its working draft on the reports prepared by thematic Committees I, III and IV, and on a preliminary report by Committee II - on the Organization of the State/Organization of Political Power - which is still in deliberations.

Constituent Assembly members today discussed this delay in the constitutional development process after Committee II reported that it still has 15 articles to complete before submitting its final report to the Systematization and Harmonization Commission.

Constituent Assembly President Lú-Olo underlined the urgency of the constitutional development process, emphasizing that the UN Security Council has agreed that UNTAET should transfer its sovereignty to the East Timorese government on 20 May 2002.

Committee II continued its deliberations today with a discussion over the creation of a State Council which would be chaired by a future President of East Timor. The Council would be a special consultative body that would need to be consulted before the President could declare a state of war; a state of emergency; or if the Parliament were dissolved or a government resigned.

Committee II has recommended that the Council should include the President of the Parliament, the Prime Minister, ex-President(s), five citizens appointed by the President and five citizens appointed by the Parliament. The members agreed that the State Council is authorized to write its own rules and procedures.

CONFERENCE ON FUTURE OF TELEVISION IN EAST TIMOR BEGINS

A wide range of government officials, broadcast specialists, donors and representatives of civil society gathered in Dili yesterday and today to discuss the future of television in East Timor over the next five to ten years.

The participants at the three-day event are focusing on four main topics. The first is whether there in fact is a need for television in East Timor. If so, the second topic focuses on what type of operation is envisioned, and how much it would cost. The third topic examines the pros and cons of three delivery options - Terrestrial, Satellite and Internet Protocol - under consideration; and the fourth topic focuses on the cost of building and running a television station.

The conference aims to ultimately produce a concluding paper that will give the East Timorese government a clear idea of the structure, cost, targets, development and funding of a television network in the future.

Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta told the participants this morning that television would play an important role in East Timor's development, and stressed that the government was committed to the creation of an independent broadcasting authority.

Two representatives of the Australian broadcasting network SBS - Managing Director Nigel Milan and Head of Radio Quang Luu - are among the participants, as are Richard Broadbridge, Head of Programming of Fiji TV; Karl Rossiter of TVNZ; and Ward Edmonds, former Deputy Director of CNBC Asia.