The Age - April 28, 2005
We're not ripping off E Timor: Downer

It was not in Australia's interest to rip off East Timor over the joint oil treaty, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.

Tough maritime boundary negotiations between the Australian and East Timorese governments to resolve how to carve up resources resumed in Dili on Tuesday.

Mr Downer said there had now been two days of talks and he had heard that they were going well.

Both sides understood East Timor was poor and Australia wanted to help East Timor, he said.

"We don't want to keep East Timor poor," Mr Downer told Network Seven's Sunrise.

"People who claim that about Australia or anyone in Australia are just making rhetoric. Of course we don't.

"But we do have to have some commonsense and legally sustainable boundary with East Timor, which isn't going to unravel our other maritime boundaries.

"I think they understand that and I think we are having a good level of negotiation.

"... Australia's interest isn't to rip off East Timor."

Australia had given East Timor 90 per cent of the joint development area created under the Timor Sea Treaty with East Timor, Mr Downer said.

So Australia had already made a very generous commitment to East Timor in that way, as well as with its aid program, he said.

- AAP

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