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E-Timor's Foreign Minister says its committed to oil and gas deal

East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, says East Timor is commited to a deal struck with Australia to share oil and gas resources from the Timor Sea.

International lawyers told a seminar in Dili last weekend, that current maritime law would give East Timor much greater ownership of natural gas fields, potentially bringing in billions of dollars in extra revenue.

This prompted suggestions that East Timor might seek to renegotiate the deal or challenge the agreed sea bed boundaries before the international court of justice.

But Jose Ramos Horta says East Timor will stick to the agreement:

There is one principle, one rule in relations between states, you negotiate an agreement in good faith. We reached a deal, July last year that was beneficial to East Timor. We should not allow ourselves to be distracted and then breaching this sacred rule of international relations.

28/03/2002 15:05:47 | ABC Radio Australia News

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