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Indonesia, Timor Leste to begin talks on maritime boundary delimitation
Jakarta and Dili are to finally start negotiations to delimit their shared maritime boundaries following the conclusion of land border talks, 20 years after Timor Leste's vote for independence from Indonesia.
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Coordinating Political, Security and Legal Affairs Minister Wiranto (right) and Timor Leste's chief border negotiator Xanana Gusmao exchange memoranda of agreement on land borders at a co-signing ceremony at the former's office in Central Jakarta, on July 23. The governments of Indonesia and Timor Leste have agreed to conclude talks on land borders in Noel Besi-Citrana and Bijael Sunan-Oben, along with further arrangements on exclaves Batugade and Motaain, as well as the Passabe-Haumeni'ana border segment. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
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ndonesia and Timor Leste are soon to begin negotiations on the delimitation of their maritime boundaries after settling their land borders, officials have said, as Asia’s youngest nation seeks to consolidate its sovereignty 20 years after an independence referendum.
The two countries are ready to begin the next phase of border talks, Coordinating Political, Security and Legal Affairs Minister Wiranto said on Monday, following his meeting with Timor Leste’s first president Xanana Gusmao, who now acts as its chief maritime boundary negotiator and special oil and gas representative.
“In the meeting, which was held in a friendly atmosphere, we have agreed on the settlement of two unresolved [borders] -- the Noel Besi-Citrana and Bidjael Sunan-Oben segments," Wiranto told reporters at his office in Jakarta.
Noel Besi-Citrana is an area in East Nusa Tenggara’s (NTT) Kupang regency that borders on Oecusse-Ambeno, part of the East Timor region, while Bidjael Sunan-Oben is located near Manusasi, a village in North Central Timor regency. These segments took longer to be agreed upon because of various horizontal conflicts and customary disputes.
“With the completion of the negotiations for these unresolved segments, we can say that all land boundary negotiations are in principle complete and we will […] continue with the maritime boundaries,” Wiranto said.
The minister also said there were some technical arrangements for several pockets of Timorese land, including Batugade and Motaain, as well as for the border between Passabe subdistrict and NTT’s Haumeni’ana. He did not elaborate on the details, but the latter segment, in the south of the Oecusse exclave, is partly divided along a road that is shared by the two neighbors.
All of these agreements would be finalized in an upcoming senior officials consultation forum and are to be included in the second addendum to the 2005 boundary agreement and later in a “comprehensive agreement” between the two sides, Wiranto said.
