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Subject: AN: Indonesia seeks immigration cooperation with East Timor
Indonesia seeks immigration cooperation with East Timor January 16, 2004 12:33am JAKARTA, Jan 16, 2004 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Indonesia and East Timor should have immigration cooperation to reduce problems at their borders, an Indonesian official said Friday. "The cooperation is needed to accelerate the imposition of a border crossing permit," Slamet Santoso, head of immigration office of Belu district in East Nusa Tenggara province, was quoted as saying by the official Antara news agency. Slamet said Indonesia and East Timor should have oral and written statements on immigration cooperation to speed up the imposition of the border-crossing permit. Indonesia, he said, has been waiting for a reply from East Timor's immigration office to its request for the imposition of the permit, which was made last December. The immigration cooperation between Indonesia and East Timor is also needed to solve problems on deportation, he said. East Nusa Tenggara shares land border with East Timor, a former Portuguese colony which integrated with Indonesia in 1975 but seceded through a UN-sponsored ballot in 1999. Indonesia and East Timor late in 2002 began requiring their people crossing the border to show passports. The two countries have decided to impose a border-crossing permit, but delayed its implementation from the original schedule of Dec. 11 last year. Support ETAN, make a secure financial contribution at etan.org/etan/donate.htm Back to January menu |