Australia grants financial aid to East Timor

Macauhub - 2008-08-26


Canberra, Australia, 26 Aug - Australia is to grant East Timor 8 million Australian dollars in financial aid for agriculture and a military training centre, officials said in Canberra Monday.

At the end of a meeting with his Timorese counterpart Xanana Gusmão, Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd said that Australia would invest 2.4 million Australian dollars in improving Timorese agriculture, for which coffee is the main product.

He added that 5.6 million Australian dollars would be spent on building a military training centre for the East Timorese army.

The Australian prime minister also announced that the number of grants for Timorese students would be increased and that an English studies centre would be created in Dili.

The inclusion of the Timorese in the 2,500 South Pacific workers to which Australia plans to grant temporary work Visas was the main issue under discussion at the second meeting of the two heads of government, with the Australian prime minister saying only that he would continue to discuss the issue.

Job creation is one of the priorities of prime minister Gusmão, as he plans to reduce unemployment that currently stands at around 80 percent.

Before the meeting, Gusmão had said he hoped an understanding would be reached that would allow the Timorese to join workers from Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, who will be granted visas to work in Australia.

Rudd agreed to look at the proposal as part of a needs assessment for employment and training in East Timor, which is due to be concluded by the end of this year.
###