ALSO: AAP: TNT launches air express service into East Timor

Kyodo News Service E. Timor to set up postal administration DILI, East Timor, Feb. 25 Kyodo

East Timor will set up a new postal service in early April under the authority of the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), a U.N. spokesman said Friday.

Stamps representing East Timor at its rebirth have already been designed by Portuguese artists and printed in Portugal, UNTAET spokesman Manoel de Almeida told reporters.

A second batch of stamps will later be produced using a design selected from a public design competition among East Timorese artists.

De Almeida said Portuguese postal authorities will provide technical advice on the setting up of the East Timorese postal service and will donate equipment for the initial two postal offices -- one in Dili and the other in Baucau, northeast of Dili.

A third facility will be set up at the airport, but will mainly be for processing and sorting of mail, he said.

'We're aiming to start the new East Timor postal service by early April, which will, in its first stage, employ 18 Timorese personnel,' he said.

UNTAET will provide transportation for both domestic and international mail. International mail will be taken to Darwin where it will be picked up by the international mail service.

'The idea is eventually the transport service will be operated by a commercial contractor,' he said.

East Timor is currently administered by the United Nations as it goes through a transition to a fully independent state.

TNT launches air express service into East Timor

SYDNEY, Feb 23 AAP - Transport giant TNT today launched the first fully-commercial air express service into East Timor via Darwin.

TNT said the service into Dili will open a gateway into East Timor for aid organisations and companies from more than 200 countries playing a part in the peace -keeping process and rebuilding the country.

"We've established the service because international organisations such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as well as Australian organisations such as Telstra, Ausaid and CARE Australia need an infrastructure for the delivery of documentation, parcels and freight," TNT Domestic & International Express managing director Garry Kirkman said.

Civil engineering and construction companies involved in the future construction of roads and bridges are also expected to use the service.

Initially, TNT will offer two flights a day from Monday to Saturday and one on Sundays.

"TNT will be the only global express company in the world to have an on-the-ground presence in Dili," Mr Kirkman said.

Ashley Chatto, a 20-year-old veteran of the global express industry who established TNT's express operation in Papua New Guinea, has been appointed to set up the service.

Glen Smith, former commanding officer at HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin, has been appointed business development manager.

TNT said without the service freight was previously moved from Darwin to Dili by barge which took two to three days.

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