21 Nov 01 22:40 East Timor: Border Talks With Indonesia Conclude

The third meeting of the Joint Border Committee ended Wednesday in Dili, with around 50 East Timorese and Indonesian officials discussing issues pertaining to the border separating the two halves of Timor island.

Timor`s Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs Fernando de Araju said, "it was a very good environment in which to hold the meeting". He added that "the Indonesian delegation had been very welcome".

Many important discussions were referred to a future date and details of passage to East Timor`s Oecussi enclave in West Timor, border demarcation and the regulation of border markets will be the subject of ongoing informal talks to prepare for high-level meetings in January.

Meanwhile, it was announced Wednesday that Timor´s future constitution will be formally presented to a plenary session of the Constituent Assembly on Nov. 26.

Assembly speaker Francisco "Lu-Olo" Guterres announced the date, after receiving a final report from the last of the four thematic groups charged with drawing up sections of the constitution.

Lu-Olo passed the report of the Organization of the State/Organization of Political Power thematic group to the assembly´s Systematization and Harmonization Committee, which is currently merging the drafts of the thematic groups into a coherent text. The current draft constitution being prepared by the Committee now contains 146 articles.

Lo-Olo stressed the urgent need for progress in the constitutional development process earlier this week. He reminded the plenary that the UN Security Council has agreed that UNTAET should transfer its sovereignty to the Dili government on May 20, 2002.

CJB -Lusa-

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