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Subject: UNMIT Daily Media Review - 14 August 2008
[Poster's note: Repeats of international articles already sent out to the east-timor list (info@etan.org) have been removed.] UNMIT (International news reports and extracts from national media. UNMIT does not vouch for the accuracy of these reports) PNTL compelled to participate in dialogue- TVTL The PNTL Commander will take measures against former PNTL officers who had sided with Alfredo during the 2006 crisis if they do not participate in a PNTL-led dialogue. The State Secretary of Security Francisco Guterres said this meeting was supposed to be held last week but was postponed as ten PNTL officers were absent. Mr Guterres confirmed that notification letters had been issued to the absentees and warned that action would be taken against them if they failed to participate. PNTL cracks down on rice price fixing- RTL PNTL commander Mateus Fernandes said yesterday that The Minister for Tourism had sent a notification letter last Tuesday to the Dili PNTL Commander regarding rice importers. The letter had asked the Dili District Commander to find a mechanism to investigate those companies, especially the Tropical Company, who were importing rice without licenses. Mr Fernandes said that these companies were also to be investigated for price fixing. Australia asked to help reduce illegal fishing in Timor waters- RTL The State Secretary for Defense Julio Tomas Pinto said yesterday that the Defense Department would inform the Council of Ministers of their request to the Australian maritime ships to control illegal fisheries on the Timor Sea. Mr Pinto said that the while the Australian Government was ready to support the maritime ships, they were awaiting authorization from the Timorese Goverment to do so. Mr Pinto said that such cooperation between Australian and Timor-Leste was very important to reducing the incidents of illegal fishing. F-FDTL salary to be increased- Timor Post The State Secretary for Defense Julio Tomas Pinto said that he would present the F-FDTL salary law to the Council of Ministers before being being sent for approval to the national parliament. Mr Pinto confirmed that each solider would receive a basic salary of $170 per month. Each solider would also receive an extra $40 for accommodation costs and $15 for transport costs. Airport IDPs happy with recovery funds- Timor Post The majority of airport IDPs are happy with the Government's recovery funds said IDPs Antonio Sarmento and Carlos Filipe. These former IDPs said that the money would go a long way to rebuilding their homes. Process to buy 65 luxury cars should be transparent- Diario Nacional CNRT Chief Eduardo Barreto announced yesterday that he has asked the Finance Minister to present the document to purchase the 65 luxury cars to the public. Mr Barreto said that it was important that the details of the purchases be clarified. RP, Timor Leste push fisheries cooperation- GMA News, 14 August The Philippines and Timor Leste signed last Tuesday a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that provides for cooperation between their fisheries sectors. Specifically, the countries agreed to cooperate in post harvest; fish processing development and marketing; coastal management and development; marine fisheries conservation; combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices; as well as environmental protection. The agreement added that, "subject to their respective laws and regulations, the Parties agree to grant fishing licenses to each other's fishing vessels." Opportunity The government eyes on harvesting 30,000-50,000 metric tons of tuna from the tuna-rich Banda Sea, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director Malcolm I. Sarmiento said in a phone interview. Mr. Sarmiento said that overfishing in the Philippine seas "would be very unlikely because they [Timor] have no distant fishing fleets." Department of Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap, on behalf of the Philippines, and Foreign Affairs Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa of Timor Leste, signed the MoA in the presence of President Gloria M. Arroyo and Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta. Cooperation, consultation Under the MoA, both countries "shall promote cooperation in sustainable development and responsible management of fisheries," as well as "mutual consultation and economic cooperation on agreed areas of fisheries." The two countries also agreed to "consult [each other] on matters of mutual interest prior to attending regional and international fisheries fora" and "seek close cooperation in handling problems relating to IUU fishing." The deal comes at a time that the Philippines’ deep-sea fishing industry has been reeling from poor catch, which it attributed to effects of warming of the Pacific Ocean; high diesel prices that have forced fleets to cut their fishing expeditions, as well as a current ban by Jakarta on foreign fishing vessels bringing fish they have caught in Indonesia waters to other countries for processing. — Neiil Jerome C. Morales, BusinessWorld
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