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Lusa: Gusmao calls for committee to ready, encourage foreign investment
LusaNews 11-07-2002 11:53:00 GMT East Timor: Gusmao calls for committee to ready, encourage foreign investment President Xanana Gusmao called Thursday for the creation of a "committee for foreign investment" in East Timor to help stabilize the new nation's import-dependent economy and encourage investment. Gusmao made the suggestion at the International Economic Forum taking place in Darwin, Australia. In a speech, he noted that East Timor depended on imports for about 70 percent of its basic needs, including staple rice, and required a strategy of incentives to attract investors. A "committee for foreign investment", he said, could "define priorities, promote (investment) viability studies, define appropriate industrial zones, and mobilize investors to reach the objectives" of Dili's economic plan. In a related development, the government debated a preliminary study in Dili Wednesday on ownership legislation and registration of properties, an issue Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has described as "urgent" to encourage investment. Following the wave of pro-Indonesia militia violence in 1999 and the country's May 20 independence, hundreds of properties were abandoned in East Timor, many of which are now illegally occupied or under doubt as to ownership. SAS/ARP/ASP -Lusa- Back to July menu Note: For those who would like to fax "the powers that be" - CallCenter is a Native 32-bit Voice Telephony software application integrated with fax and data communications... and it's free of charge! Download from http://www.v3inc.com/ |