Indian-East Timorese Relations

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Indian-East Timorese Relations
Location of India and East Timor
IndiaIndia East TimorEast Timor
India East Timor

The states of India and East Timor maintain friendly relations . The contacts are warm, but rather sporadic. For India, relations with other states such as Vietnam and Myanmar are more important in Southeast Asia than with East Timor, which is further away. Relationships with other partners are also more important for this. After the visit of East Timor's Foreign Minister José Ramos-Horta to India, contacts between the countries were a little deeper.

history

Longuinhos Monteiro (2017)

Sandalwood is said to have been exported from Timor to India as early as the 10th century .

For a large part of the colonial period, Portuguese Timor was directly subordinate to the Portuguese Viceroy of India in Goa . Missionaries from Goa trained by the Portuguese played an important role in spreading the Catholic faith in Timor in the early 17th century . Indian soldiers and bureaucrats later also came to Portuguese Timor, and at the end of the 19th century Indian workers too. There is still a small group of East Timorese of Indian descent, many of whom hold important positions. For example, Roque Rodrigues , Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2006, and Longuinhos Monteiro , Minister of the Interior from 2015 to 2017.

On December 7, 1975, Indonesia occupied East Timor, which had unilaterally declared itself independent from Portugal nine days earlier, referring to the Balibo Declaration , in which the parties that were defeated in the civil war in East Timor allegedly called Indonesia for help. India and other pro-Indonesian states tabled a draft resolution in the General Assembly of the United Nations accusing Portugal and the East Timorese parties of responsibility for the dead. The draft was rejected in favor of a motion from Algeria , Cuba , Senegal , Guyana and others. Indonesia was asked to withdraw troops from East Timor, but held it for 24 years. With the Indian Society for Human Rights there was a non-governmental organization in India that campaigned for the independence of East Timor from Indonesia.

Kamalesh Sharma (2009) and Atul Khare (2016) Kamalesh Sharma (2009) and Atul Khare (2016)
Kamalesh Sharma (2009) and Atul Khare (2016)

After three years of UN administration (UNTAET), East Timor was finally granted independence on May 20, 2002. This time India was one of the first countries to recognize the new state (second after the People's Republic of China ). Foreign Minister Omar Abdullah attended the independence celebrations in Dili with a delegation .

The Indian diplomat Atul Khare worked for the United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNMISET) as Chief of Staff and later as Deputy Special Representative of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan since 2002 . From December 6, 2006 to December 4, 2009, Khare was the successor to the Japanese Sukehiro Hasegawa, the UN special envoy for East Timor and head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT). From 2002 to 2004 the Indian Kamalesh Sharma was the UN special envoy for East Timor.

In February 2013, East Timor's Vice Minister of Health Natália de Araújo was a guest at the International Conference on Traditional Medicine for South East Asian Countries in Delhi . Health Minister Sérgio Lobo followed suit the following month and met his Indian counterpart. In May, the East Timorese Finance Minister Emília Pires visited India. In July 2015, Araújo's successor Ana Isabel Soares came to Chennai . In September, the Indian Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Anshu Prakash and Director Amal Push represented India at the meeting of the WHO regional committee in Dili. East Timor's Foreign Minister Hernâni Coelho visited India from March 27 to 29, 2016. Vice Foreign Minister Roberto Soares followed from December 4 to 6, 2016.

An Indian business delegation led by Ambassador Gurjit Singh visited East Timor in October 2014. From April 7 to 10, 2018, the Indian Minister of State for Social Justice and Authorization Krishan Pal Gurjar visited East Timor. A Memorandum of Understanding on Health Care and Public Health was signed during the visit.

In February 2017, Indian citizens in East Timor founded the Association of Indians in Timor Leste .

diplomacy

Pradeep Kumar Rawat , Indian Ambassador to East Timor, and Francisco Guterres , President of East Timor (2018)

Diplomatic relations were formally established with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on January 24, 2003. East Timor’s Prime Minister Marí Alkatiri supported India’s efforts to obtain a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council at the 2003 General Assembly of the United Nations . The same applied to the temporary seat on the World Security Council from 2011 to 2012. The Indian Poonam Khetrapal Singh was also supported by East Timor in September 2013 in his candidacy for the position of Regional Director of the South East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) of the WHO . At the United Nations General Assembly, East Timor promoted the resolution on yoga .

In 2009 the opening of an Indian embassy in Dili was planned, but was not implemented. The reason for this is the lack of suitable diplomatic personnel in India. The Indian Embassy in Jakarta , Indonesia, is still responsible for the representation in East Timor. The current ambassador is Pradeep Kumar Rawat .

East Timor has no representation in India.

economy

Trade between India and East Timor in million US dollars
year India → East Timor East Timor → India
2014/15 3.24 0.31
2015/16 3.41 0.03
2016/17 2.31 0.17
2018 4.814

In 2006 the Indian oil company Reliance Natural Resources received the right to search for oil in two areas of the Timor Sea . Tata sold 400 vehicles to the East Timorese National Police and other government agencies.

In 2016/17 India exported $ 2.31 million worth of goods to East Timor, mainly medicines, plastic goods and electrical machines. In return, goods worth $ 170,000 were imported from East Timor. These were chemical products.

In 2018, the East Timor’s Statistical Office recorded imports from India valued at 4,814,000 US dollars, making India 14th among the countries of origin. There were also re-exports from East Timor to Brazil totaling 23,000 US dollars (18th place).

A number of Indian entrepreneurs and restaurant owners live in East Timor.

Development Assistance

In 2008 India gave $ 100,000 to East Timor for infrastructure projects.

Currently (2017) around 30 Indians work as consultants in East Timorese ministries and international organizations. East Timorese students received scholarships in India to study computer science, agriculture, and medicine.

Entry requirements

East Timorese can get an eVisa for India.

Culture

The Pura Girinatha in Dili

In East Timor there is a Hindu temple, the Pura Girinatha . But it follows the Balinese tradition.

literature

Web links

Commons : Indian-East Timorese Relations  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Loro Horta : Relations with a new nation, How far South East is New Delhi prepared to go? , Pragati - The Indian National Interest Review - No 7 - October 2007, accessed December 2, 2017.
  2. ↑ Laura Suzanne Meitzner Yoder: Custom, Codification, Collaboration: Integrating the Legacies of Land and Forest Authorities in Oecusse Enclave, East Timor, ( Memento of March 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) p. 63, (PDF; 1.5 MB) . Yale University 2005.
  3. ↑ José Ramos-Horta : Funu - East Timor's fight for freedom is not over! Ahriman, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-89484-556-2 .
  4. ^ ETAN: List of East Timor Support and Solidarity Groups Worldwide , accessed January 24, 2018.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Government of India: India - Timor Leste Relations , accessed November 30, 2017.
  6. ^ UN: Secretary-General Appoints Atul Khare of India Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
  7. ^ United Nations Information Service, April 5, 2002
  8. ↑ a b c Indian Embassy in Jakarta: India-Timor List Bilateral Relations  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on May 24, 2018.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.indianembassyjakarta.com  
  9. ↑ a b Indian Embassy in Jakarta: Fact Sheet Bilateral Relations , accessed on April 12, 2019.
  10. ↑ Nitin Pai: Touching Timor-Leste , accessed December 2, 2017.
  11. ↑ a b Direcção-Geral de Estatística: External Trade Statistics Annual Reports 2018 , accessed on April 17, 2019.
  12. ^ President of East Timor: PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC RECEIVES CREDENTIAL LETTERS FROM FOUR NEW AMBASSADORS , February 22, 2018 , accessed February 25, 2018.
  13. ↑ Timor-Leste Passport Holders: List of Countries That Offer Visa Free Entry , June 24, 2018 , accessed October 14, 2018.