The president of Timor-Leste has said that with the new Labour Government in Australia, there are “much better” possibilities of finding a win-win solution for both countries regarding the Greater Sunrise gas project.
“We will naturally talk about Greater Sunrise. With this government there are much better possibilities to find a solution that is the best for Timor-Leste and the best for Australia,” said José Ramos-Horta.
“It is a new government, with a lot of sympathy for Timor-Leste and that knows that we live in a new geopolitical dynamic, with new threats, new risks for peace and security in the region, given the tensions between the great powers and the rivalries,” he said at the start of an official visit to Australia.
The visit to Canberra comes at a time when the debate is intensifying over the future development of the Greater Sunrise project which has been stalled for years due to the dispute between the two countries over the development model.
The Australian position is for a pipeline to Darwin while Timor-Leste, which has a majority position in the project consortium, insists on a domestic pipeline.
Timor-Leste owns 56.6 per cent of Greater Sunrise, located 150 kilometres southeast of the country and 450 kilometres northwest of Darwin, in partnership with Woodside (34.44 per cent) and Osaka Gas (10 per cent).
Last week during a 24-hour visit to Dili, Australian Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, said that it is necessary to “unblock” the development of the Greater Sunrise gas fields project, considering it extremely important for Timor-Leste’s economic resilience.
“Greater Sunrise is extremely important. It is important to recognise that the [Greater Sunrise] consortium partners – Timor, Woodside and Osaka Gas – have to reach an agreement for the project to move forward and this has not yet occurred,” Penny Wong said in Dili.
“This has been stalled for many years. I have told the [Timorese] president and others that we have to unstick it, find a way to resolve this. But the best way to resolve it, respectfully, is not through the ‘media’,” she said at the time.
Ramos-Horta hopes that the visit to Canberra will allow the project to move forward, and has already threatened that if Australia remains intransigent, and in a short period of time, Timor-Leste may seek other partners, such as neighbouring Indonesia, South Korea, Japan or China.
The growing positioning of China in the Pacific region and the perception that it could position itself equally in Timor-Leste has raised growing concern among countries such as Australia and the United States.
“I come to Australia with a lot of confidence that with this new government we can increase the level of cooperation in the area of defence and security, in support to Timor-Leste’s development, including more support in the technical and professional training of Timorese,” Ramos-Horta said.
This is Ramos-Horta’s second international visit, after Indonesia, since he took office in May.
“There are two extremely important countries for Timor-Leste: Indonesia and Australia. Our immediate neighbours, largest economies in the region and with whom we have great relations, which we have to increase,” he said.
“On the Indonesian side, the president is determined to increase relations. After the visit to Jakarta, he called a meeting with several ministers to push forward the industrial park project in the border area and the free trade agreement in Oecusse,” he said.
In the next few weeks, Ramos-Horta is scheduled to visit New York, to participate in the United Nations General Assembly.
