Timor-Leste's new Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta will this week
make his first trip overseas as premier for talks with key regional
partners including Indonesia and Malaysia, local newspaper reported
Monday.
Ramos-Horta will head to Jakarta Tuesday for talks with
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, before moving on to Kuala
Lumpur for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional
Forum.
Ramos-Horta, the former foreign minister who was appointed to
the position earlier this month after Mari Alkatiri quit amid
bitter factional fighting, said Yudhoyono had been the first leader
to call him after he was sworn in, reported The Jakarta
Post.
"When President Susilo invited me to visit I took up the offer
as I wanted personally to express Timor-Leste's deep appreciation
for the moral, political and humanitarian support given to us by
the government and the people of the Republic of Indonesia
throughout the recent crisis," Ramos-Horta said in a statement.
Timor-Leste voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999 amid mass
bloodshed and formally became a nation in 2002.
Ramos-Horta said he would discuss bilateral issues, including
the commencement of a border pass regime and the completion of the
two countries' land border demarcation.
He also plans to meet with leading members of the Indonesian
business community to explore their possible involvement in the
economic development in natural resource-rich Timor-Leste.
Ramos-Horta will then travel to Kuala Lumpur to meet his
Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to thank him for
sending peacekeeping troops as part of the UN-sanctioned foreign
forces during the recent turmoil.
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The prime minister will also attend the ASEAN Regional Forum to
discuss regional political and security issues. He will also sign
his country's formal request for accession to the 10-member
organization.
Timor-Leste has been a guest of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
since 2002 and attended the regional forum last year.
(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2006)
