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East Timor: Unresolved 'issues' but 'no problems' with Jakarta - PM Alkatiri

Dili, Oct. 22 (Lusa) - Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, returning to East Timor from Jakarta Friday, said he had held successful talks with Indonesia's new president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"We were clear", Alkatiri said of his talks with Yudhoyono on debarking at Dili airport. "We said we had outstanding (bilateral) issues, but no problems. We have outstanding issues to be resolved, but no problems exist".

Alkatiri, who met with Yudhoyono in Jakarta after the newly elected army general was sworn in as Indonesia's president Wednesday, also said he had delivered an invitation from President Xanana Gusmão, who is on an official visit to Germany, for Yudhoyono to visit Dili.

The Indonesian leader "demonstrated interest in visiting East Timor", but no date had been set, the prime minister added.

East Timor gained its independence from Indonesia after nearly a quarter-century of occupation following an UN-sponsored plebiscite in 1999 that was accompanied by a scorched-earth campaign launched by pro-Jakarta militias.

Also on the foreign policy front, Alkatiri reaffirmed his intention of proposing that the eight-nation Community of Portuguese- speaking Countries (CPLP), to which Dili belongs, hold a summit in the East Timorese capital.

He has said such a meeting could involve neighboring Southeast Asian states as a means of the CPLP "affirming (itself) in the world" and promoting "technical, economic and trade cooperation".

The prime minister also said an investigation was under way to determine the origin of a live grenade found by children on a beach beside his Dili residence Thursday.

"Fortunately nothing happened", Alkatiri said, adding that, while he had been "the target", the "victims would have been the children".

EL/SAS Lusa