RI, UNTAET AGREE TO DISCUSS MAIL SERVICE AND AIR PASSAGE

The Indonesian goverment and the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor agreed to further discuss their cooperation agreement on mail services and air passage. These are some of the points agreed upon by the two sides during their closed-door bilateral meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, May 15-16, 2001, Indonesian chief negotiator Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat said here on Thursday. “Following up several points of discussion already agreed upon
in their previous fourth round talks, the two sides eventually reached agreement in their fifth round of negotiations on air passage, military and commercial, as well as on mail services,” he said. The Indonesia-Dili air route has been covered by Merpati Nusantara Airlines (MNA) and a foreign airline company which often ferried UN officials assigned in East Timor. Then on May 23, 2001, Jatayu Airlines will start flying over the
Jakarta-Yogyakarta-Denpasar-Dili route three times a week. UNTAET underlined the importance of the air link between Indonesia and East Timor through several entrances set on the basis of international air passage principles set by the International Civil Aviation Organizatioin (ICAO). “Indonesia in this case also support an air link with East Timor on the basis of air passage borderlines agreed upon under the ICAO convention. In this context, Indonesia wished that the discussions be held at an ad-hoc committee level first,” he said. Meanwhile, with regard to mail services, UNTAET proposed talks at special technical level on the building of mail services between Indonesia and East Timor with Jakarta as a point for mail from and to East Timor. In this context, Indonesia has asked for a clarification on safety, payment system and tariffs of the sending of mail from and to Timor Lorosae, since East Timor has yet to join the world postal organization (UPU), Sudjadnan added. Responding to the request, UNTAET said that all those wishes could be realized by establishing a joint agreement between Indonesia and East Timor on the basis of UPU rulings, without requiring East Timor to become a full member of UPU first. Both sides eventually agreed to discuss the matter at technical
level as soon as possible on the basis of UPU stipulations, said Sudjadnan, who is also Indonesian ambassador to Australia. Besides the the two points that had been agreed upon, the two sides during the rather sluggish but constructive meeting also agreed on the payment of pension money to former civil servants,
military and police personnel during the transitional period with money taken from the State Budget and after becoming a fully independent country, the civil servants, military and police personnel who opted to return to East Timor will receive severance payment from assistance provided by some donor countries. The meeting also set the role of UNTAET in the socialization and registration program to be implemented on June 6. Agreement was also reached on the sea limits of the Exclusive Economic Zone between Indonesia and East Timor and the transfer of assets, insurance claims and the conservation of national objects of cultural significance in East Timor. “The two-day meeting also reached agreement on an ‘Oecussi Transit Arrangement’ which will be further discussed in a joint border committee meeting,” Sudjadnan said.
(U.DPSRU/DPS01/ING/21:58/ri2)