Indonesia, Timor Leste promote economic cooperation, resolve border issues

Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi (R) and her visiting Timor Leste counterpart Adaljiza Magno meet in Jakarta on January 11. (Source: Indonesia Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian Foreign AffairsMinister Retno Marsudi and her visiting Timor Leste counterpart Adaljiza Magnomet in Jakarta on January 11, discussing opportunities to boost economicpartnership and the settlement of land boundaries between the nations.

The two ministers talked about the plan to follow up on theJoint Industrial Park development project. They agreed to start discussing aJoint Free Trade Zone agreement in the border industrial area between TimorLeste’s Oecusse district and Indonesian East Nusa Tenggara province.

The meeting also discussed the matter of expediting thecompletion of the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) and a memorandum ofunderstanding in the field of communication and informatics.

The diplomats agreed that efforts would be driven to finalisethe agreements this year so that they could be signed during the visit of thePrime Minister of Timor Leste, which will be determined later.

Regarding the land border issues, the sides concurred topush for efforts to settle discussions on two segments of the land borderbetween Indonesia and Timor Leste, namely Bidjael Sunan-Oben and NoelBesi-Citrana. Retno said that it is important to maintain conditions so thatnegotiations can continue./.

VNA