UNCLAS DILI 000351

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MTS AND EAP/MLS - COPE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL ASEAN PO SG TT BM
SUBJECT: TIMOR-LESTE TO PRESS FOR ASEAN ENGAGEMENT ON BURMA

REF: STATE 00146862


1. (SBU) Per reftel, Ambassador met October 26 with Timor-Leste
Foreign Minister Zacarias Albano Da Costa to urge that
Timor-Leste, as a candidate for accession to ASEAN, explore ways
to press Burma. We stressed the importance of the issue to the
United States, and expressed our appreciation for President
Ramos-Horta's strong remarks of concern and disappointment with
the deteriorating political and social conditions in Burma in
his speech before the U.N. General Assembly.


2. (SBU) Da Costa said that he and Ramos-Horta had already
strategized on the Burma issue in preparation for their upcoming
foreign travel. The Foreign Minister will visit Jakarta this
weekend and then join the President on his official visit to
Portugal mid-November. The Foreign Minister will also stop in
Singapore next month. Timor-Leste, Da Costa said, supports
formation of a five-man ASEAN Wise Men commission to produce a
road map for reform in Burma, linking its adoption to a package
of economic incentives. Da Costa said he hoped creation of this
Commission would be announced at the next ASEAN Summit in
Singapore on November 18 - 22. In Jakarta, he said, they would
urge President Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Wirajuda to
support the proposal. They would also raise the issue in
meetings with Indonesian parliamentarians. Da Costa said he
would pursue the matter in Singapore as well, where he is set to
meet with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

RECTOR