RP, East Timor ink 2 agreements

The Philippines and East Timor signed agreements yesterday to boost diplomatic relations and economic cooperation, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

Under one of the deals signed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and his counterpart Jose Ramos Horta, the Philippines agreed to train diplomats from East Timor at its Foreign Service Institute from 2005.

The two countries also signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation with both agreeing to promote the study, preparation and implementation of economic projects, including human resources development programs.

East Timor is seeking help in nation-building and lobby for support in his country’s bid to join Asia’s largest security forum, officials said Monday.

Horta conceded that his country’s ties with the Philippines would most likely be "one-sided" because Timor is relatively a new country and does not have much to offer economically.

"We are conscious of our modesty to reciprocate the generosity (of the Philippines). We look at the Philippines as an older brother that extends the hand of friendship and support to a young, struggling nation," Horta said.

Horta is to meet President Arroyo and top defense and trade officials during his Tuesday-Thursday visit to the Philippines, where he was twice barred from entering in the mid-1990s by Filipino officials who feared his visit could hurt relations with Indonesia.

Horta said before leaving Dili in East Timor that he would also seek the Philippines’ backing for East Timor’s bid to join the ASEAN Regional Forum, a group of Asian and Western nations that allows ministers to discuss the region’s security concerns.

Romulo said Horta, who won the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, would also thank the Filipinos for helping foster East Timor’s independence.

Filipino troops took part in an international peacekeeping mission in East Timor in the late 1990s.

A former Portuguese colony, East Timor was devastated during a long war that followed Indonesia’s 1975 invasion. Some 200,000 Timorese and about 10,000 Indonesian troops died in the conflict. The country gained full independence in 2002 after a period of UN rule.

East Timorese leaders have tried to patch up relations with Indonesia in recent years but human rights groups insist that Indonesian military commanders must be punished for abuses in East Timor and have urged the United Nations to set up a war crimes tribunal to try those behind the abuses. — Marvin Sy, AFP