Minister Bowen concludes talks in Timor-Leste
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen MP, has completed a day of meetings in Timor-Leste, starting with the President, Dr Jose Ramos-Horta, the Secretary of State for Security, Dr Francisco Guterres, and the Secretary of State for Council of Ministers, Mr Agio Periera, as well as other senior government officials.
President Ramos-Horta and Minister Bowen agreed to establish a high-level taskforce led from Australia by the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Andrew Metcalfe, and Australia's Anti-People Smuggling Ambassador, James Larsen.
The taskforce will convene in a month to consider the proposal of a regional processing centre that will be put to both the Australian and Timor-Leste governments in early 2011 and developed under the auspices of the Bali process.
Minister Bowen also met with the Secretary-General of Fretilin, Dr Alkatiri, and other senior Fretilin officials. This was a constructive meeting which included discussions on the role of the East Timorese Parliament going forward.
Finally, the minister met with the President of the Parliament, Mr Fernando de Araujo, as well as representatives of each of the parliamentary parties to brief them on the proposal for a regional processing centre.
This concluded a series of constructive meetings that focused on the benefits for Timor-Leste and Australia in the context of the development of a Regional Protection Framework.
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2010/cb20251.htm
Last update: Monday, 22 November 2010 at 17:17 AEST