Portugal to boost Timor aid for justice system during ministerial visit

23/8/2008

Portuguese Justice Minister Alberto Costa said this week he would sign two bilateral cooperation schemes in Dili later this week during a three-day visit to East Timor.

Minister Costa, who began his visit to Asia’s newest nation on Thursday, told the Lusa News
Agency he would ink a protocol with his Timorese counterpart, Lúcia Lobato, to assure the career and salary rights at home of Portuguese judges and magistrates recruited to serve in East Timor under United Nations auspices.

The current lack of such guarantees by Portugal had hindered the recruitment of judicial
personnel to serve in Dili, the minister said.

A second protocol, he added, would broaden Portuguese aid beyond current bilateral
programmes of training judicial sector personnel to help the former Portuguese territory
“modernize” its judicial system in all areas.

“We plan to continue and bolster our judicial cooperation. Justice is, in fact, the priority of
our cooperation with East Timor”, Costa said.

He was scheduled to meet all Dili’s top leaders, including President José Ramos Horta, Prime
Minister Xanana Gusmão, and UN mission chief Atul Khare during his three-day stay in Dili.

TPN/Lusa

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