Timor-Leste and Indonesia inaugurate border-pass system

29 Jul 2010

Timor-Leste and Indonesia inaugurate border-pass system

Dili, 28 July 2010 - Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Zacarias Albano da Costa, and the Republic of Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa yesterday signed an agreement on bilateral cooperation in Dili. The agreement provides for a pass system designed to ease travel procedures for local residents in the border areas.

Later in the day, the new border-pass system was inaugurated at a ceremony presided over by President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste José Ramos-Horta, held on the border in Batugade (Timor-Leste) — Mota'ain (Indonesia). The ceremony was witnessed by official delegations from Indonesia and Timor-Leste and by head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), Special Representative of the Secretary-General Ameerah Haq.

President Ramos-Horta spoke of the decade long effort to arrive at this historic moment, "We must move toward the future and not be hostages to the past."

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