Asia Times: Philippines to help in reconstruction of East Timor



	February 12, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Philippines to help in reconstruction of East Timor

MANILA - The Estrada administration has assured East Timor of assistance in rehabilitating and developing its farming and fishery sector, and will send an initial batch of agricultural experts to do the job.

Secretary Edgardo Angara of the Department of Agriculture relayed this assurance to East Timor independence leaders Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta during their recent visit. ''We will be very happy to extend technical assistance to East Timor as much as we can,'' Angara told Gusmao and Ramos-Horta.

Angara also presented to the two East Timorese guests the ll experts who will be sent by the Philippine government to assist the former Indonesian territory in developing its agriculture.

The Philippine offer of help is in response to a call by the United Nations Transition Authority for East Timor (Untaet), the temporary governing body overseeing the affairs of East Timor until it finally becomes independent.

During the visit, Ramos-Horta told Angara that the most pressing need for East Timor was to lessen, if not eliminate, humanitarian food aid by March 200l. For his part, Gusmao underscored the need to establish a training program, under which experts and volunteers could provide technical assistance to East Timor. Funding for this would likely be provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.

Gusmao noted that the ADB and World Bank are managing a $40 million trust fund meant to rehabilitate East Timor's infrastructure and develop agriculture, health and education. He said that at least 70 percent of East Timor's more than 800,000 inhabitants depend on agriculture for their subsistence and 60 percent of those are engaged in rice cultivation.

Meanwhile, the Department of Agrarian Reform DAR also pledged to organize a team composed of representatives from DAR and various non-government organizations to help in the reconstruction of East Timor.

(Inter Press Service)

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