Australia and Timor-Leste strike deal to end maritime boundary dispute

Updated

Australia and Timor-Leste have resolved their bitter and long-running dispute over maritime boundaries in the Timor Sea, in what is being described as a "landmark day" in the relationship between the two nations. “Nevertheless the parties agree that the agreement reached on 30 August 2017 marks a significant milestone in relations between them and in a historic friendship between the peoples of Timor-Leste and Australia.”

Former Timor-Leste president, and head of its delegation, Xanana Gusmao, thanked the conciliation commission for helping to resolve “a long and at times difficult process, to help achieve our dream of full sovereignty and to finally settle our maritime boundaries with Australia”. Xanana Gusmao, the hero of East Timor's struggle for independence and leader of his country's delegation in the talks, described it as an "historic agreement that marks the beginning of a new era in Timor-Leste's [East Timor's] friendship with Australia". Details of the accord weren’t immediately released, but the court says in a statement that it “addresses the legal status of the Greater Sunrise gas field” and establishes “a pathway to the development of the resource, and the sharing of the resulting revenue.”

The dispute over the maritime boundary and revenue sharing has long soured relations between East Timor and Australia. Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Minister Penny Wong welcomed the breakthrough, saying the court's ruling brings to an end "more than 40 years of uncertainty over this maritime border". The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague announced on Saturday that the neighbouring countries had reached an agreement "on the central elements of a maritime boundary delimitation between them in the Timor Sea" – but that details would remain confidential until the deal was finalised.
Australia and East Timor settle a dispute between the two countries in the Timor Sea.