Brussels, 08/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - The third conference of international aid donors to East Timor, which brought together, in Brussels, the representatives of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the East Timor Transitional Authority (ATTO), the world Bank, the European Commission, the EU Member States, other major international donors and non-governmental organisations (see EUROPE of 4 and 5 December, p.14), was very constructive. Organised by the European Commission in the aim of examining how to pave the way for the forthcoming accession of the country to complete independence, it allowed, says Jemal-uddin-Kassum, Vice-President of the World Bank for East Asia and the Pacific, development of an "integrated approach for the setting in place of political, economic, social and administrative transition in East Timor".
José Ramos Horta, Nobel Peace Prize, specified during a press conference that the first national elections, initially programmed for the months of August 2001, could possibly be deferred by several months given the very tight political timetable of the country. Supporting a pragmatic approach for keeping to the buffer date of November/December for independence, he said: "We have waited five hundred years. We can wait just a few more months, if need be".
The European Commission, which has already provided EUR 66.5 million in assistance to East Timor since the beginning of transition (29 million in humanitarian aid, 10 million in rehabilitation aid, 19 million in contributions to the Trust Fund for East Timor, and 8.5 million in food aid) announced, through Commissioner Poul Nielson (Development and Humanitarian Aid), its willingness to support the independent Timor, by contributing up to EUR 20 million annually to the Trust Fund for East Timor - an amount already set out in the budgetary forecasts 2001 and 2002 and which correspond to the Commission's political determination. "We remain committed on the side of East Timor, now, but also for helping a long-term partner", said the Commissioner. In answer to questions on the added value of this political conference after the first two fund raising conferences (Tokyo in December 1999 and Lisbon in June 2000), the Commissioner felt that the "important thing was to keep up the impetus" and for the presentations heard on economic and social integration, on budgetary and tax issues in East Timor, to have been instructive for international donors as, he said, "these are the essential elements for building a new Nation".