After nearly three years of negotiations by senior government officials and extensive field work by technical experts, Timor-Leste and Indonesia are drafting a new border agreement between the two countries. Negotiators have reached consensus on nearly all of the land border and have agreed to further technical assessments to settle the remainder. Officials at Timor-Leste's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MFAC) anticipate a final agreement in time for the Third Joint Ministerial Meeting between Timor-Leste and Indonesia later this year.

The border demarcation process started in 2001 under the auspices of the United Nations' administration and has continued since Timor-Leste's government took over on May 20, 2002. Using treaties from 1904 and 1914 between Portugal and the Netherlands (the colonial rulers of Timor-Leste and Indonesia at the time), mapping specialists and surveyors set out a work plan to establish the border. The 100-year-old, hand-drawn maps have joined 21st century satellite images, aerial photographs, and global positioning system (GPS) technology in the complex process of drawing the new boundaries.

"We are now negotiating the draft provisional agreement," explained Nelson Santos, the MFAC's acting secretary general. "Basically it says that we have reached a consensus that 90% of the borderline is agreeable between the two countries. The remaining 10% awaits a technical assessment. Hopefully we will reach agreement on that by October of this year."

USAID has supported the border demarcation process with a series of grants totaling $221,000. The process has improved the technical skills of staff in the MFAC, reduced tensions in the border areas, and assisted in the normalization of relations between the two countries, significantly improving conditions for trade and economic growth.

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