Dili, 08 october 2022 ( TATOLI) – Timor – Leste and Indonesia held a bilateral meeting on Timor- Leste’s accession to the World Trade Organization ( WTO) where this meeting discussed the services and work of the third meeting conducted by Indonesia and Timor – Leste via virtual.
A press statement seen by TATOLI stated that this bilateral meeting shows: Timor-Leste’s serious commitment to becoming a member of WTO.
The Chief Negotiator for Timor-Leste and the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Jaoqim Amaral, at the opening of the meeting speaks about strengthening the bilateral relations between Timor-Leste and Indonesia in various economic sectors.
“This bilateral meeting marks a historical moment for Timor-Leste, thus with the support from Indonesia and with Timor-Leste’s determination, we believe that we will complete the road mapping on WTO accession,”
Timor – Leste’s accession to the WTO shows a very significant step after the first Working Group Meeting which was realized on October 20, 2020. After the meeting on April 2022, Timor-Leste soon received a revision of services and work in early 2022 for the state members of WTO.
As a result of the circulation of offers regarding services and work for Timor – Leste on 15 July 2022, New Zealand and Australia indicated their commitment to finalizing the bilateral negotiations on services and work through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Chief of Negotiations for WTO Timor – Leste, Joaquim Amaral together with the New Zealand Ambassador to Timor – Leste, Philip Hewitt and the Australian Ambassador to Timor – Leste, Bill Costello.
At the pluralism level Timor – Leste marks history as a less developed country and as the first country to observe the realization of the ministerial conference meeting in Geneva Swiss, in announcing also compromise of the accession to the joint initiative on the regulation of domestic work.
During the bilateral meeting with Indonesia, the Indonesian Representative in Geneva, Ambassador Dandy Satria Isawara, expressed his appreciation for the Government of Timor-Leste’s wishes for accession to the WTO: “As a close neighboring country and seeing almost the same history, Indonesia continues to be committed to strengthening the bilateral relations with Timor – Leste including strengthening the economic relations to continue to provide capacity building services to empower human resources in Timor – Leste,”
“Indonesia continues to support the process of Timor-Leste’s accession to the WTO in 2023 and Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN. Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN will result in the presence of members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) at the WTO,” said Dandi Isawara.
Timor-Leste delegation participating in the meeting with Indonesia was led by the Chief of Timor-Leste Negotiations for the WTO, Joaquim Amaral, accompanied by the Vice Minister of Commerce and Industry, Domingos Lopes Antunes, and Timor-Leste’s permanent Ambassador to Geneva Maria de Lurdes Martins de Sousa Bessa together with the WTO Working Group Team from the ministerial line and related Autonomy Agency of Timor – Leste.
While the Indonesian delegation was led by Indonesian representatives in Geneva, Ambassador Dandy Satria Isawara was accompanied by representatives from the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Exterior Relations, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
In the following step, Timor – Leste will also conclude the Bilateral Negotiations with Canada and the Philippines, and will officially sign the bilateral relations between the two countries in October 2022.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Nelia Borges
