10/24/07 16:43

Indonesia, Timor Leste academicians to hold seminar on border problem

Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - Academicians of Nusa Cendana University here and Dili University will hold an international seminar next month to strengthen cooperation between Indonesia and Timor Leste, organizing committee spokesman Karolus Kopong Medan said here on Wednesday.

"After the seminar, we are going to follow it up with research activity that can help the two countries develop cooperation in various fields," Kopong Medan said.

He said the seminar early next month was being fully supported by the Timor Leste consul in Kupang, Caetano de Sousa Guterres, the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Timor Leste government.

Kopong Medan said the seminar on "Cooperation to Develop RI-Timor Leste Borders" was necessary because the peoples living on the Indonesian and Timor Leste halves of Timor Island shared the same culture and traditions.

"They share the same culture and traditions that have to be maintained, although Timor Leste is no longer part of the Unitary State of the Indonesian Republic (NKRI)," Kopong Medan said.

He added that academicians of the two universities would try to identify various existing problems and then carry out research which could suggest ways to solve them and thus help to strengthen the two countries` bilateral relations.

"We hope that through the seminar there will be no more suspicions between the peoples of Timor Leste and West Timor in their bid to recultivate their bonds of brotherhood," he said.(*)