TIMOR-LESTE TO PRESS FOR ASEAN ENGAGEMENT ON BURMA

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