(extract from UNTAET Daily Briefing)
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today called on the international community to remain engaged in East Timor after releasing a report showing the country will be the poorest in Asia after its 20 May independence.

The UNDP's first ever National Human Development Report on East Timor - which measures indicators including income per head, literacy rates, school enrollment and life expectancy - places East Timor among the 20 countries in the world lowest on the human development index, in the same category as Angola, Rwanda, Bangladesh,

(extract from UNTAET Daily Briefing)
Dili, 10 May 2002 - The Government of East Timor today released the annual budget it will present at next week's Donor Meeting for East Timor in Dili.

Ministry of Finance officials say the budget delivers on the Government's commitment at the Oslo Donor's Conference in December 2001 to contain growth in medium-term expenditures and provide a plausible donor exit strategy from the provision of direct budget support.

Eighty percent of the combined sources budget is directed to the social and economic sectors, a ten percent increase

Dili, 7 May 2002 - The Council of Ministers today approved a Ministry of Finance proposal paving the way for East Timor to become a member of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.
The Council also approved a regulation on the new organizational structure of the Second Transitional Government following the 18 April appointment of a Secretary of State for Defence.

In addition, the Council approved a major Japanese assistance package totalling US$19.2 million that will be used

Representatives of East Timor and Indonesia today completed a Joint Reconnaissance Survey (JRS) aimed at demarcating the countries' common land borders.
The joint survey team - which included surveyors, geographic engineers and geologists from Indonesia and East Timor - visited seven locations along the common border as they attempted to locate old border markers and study geological features and technical issues.

"The fact that the survey took place before East Timor's independence shows the level of trust and cooperation

(extract from UNTAET Daily Briefing)
Dili, 25 April 2002 - The Council of Ministers has approved a Ministry of Health proposal to reconfigure the hospital system in East Timor over the next three years in order to best serve the population and maximise the health system's limited resources.

The proposal calls for the rehabilitation of existing hospitals in Dili and Baucau districts, and for the construction of new hospitals in Oecussi, Maliana, Suai and Ainaro districts.

In addition, the proposal will result

The board of Commissioners of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) yesterday delivered the certified results of the 14 April presidential election to SRSG Sergio Vieira de Mello for onward transmittal to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"The Board of Commissioners did not have a difficult task in concluding that the criteria for a free and fair election have been met," Maria Aurora dos Reis, the chair of the Board of Commissioners, said at the ceremony held in Dili. "Our own observations have been fully supported by the many electoral observer

(extract from UNTAET Daily Briefing)
Dili, 19 April 2002 - Representatives of East Timor and Indonesia are scheduled to begin a Joint Reconnaissance Survey (JRS) next week aimed at demarcating the countries’ common land borders.

JRS participants include surveyors from both countries’ mapping and surveying agencies and representatives from each side’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Logistical support will be provided by UNTAET’s peacekeeping force and the Indonesian military.

(extract from UNTAET Daily Briefing)
Dili, 18 April 2002 - East Timor's President-elect and Chief Minister Marí Alkatiri met today for the first time since Sunday's election and are in "complete agreement" on how to proceed with island territory’s transition to independence, UN Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello said.

Vieira de Mello, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative in East Timor, invited both leaders to the meeting. During the four-hour session, the three discussed the following pressing concerns:

A forensic team from UNTAET's Serious Crimes Unit today completed the exhumation of remains of victims of a 1999 massacre in the capital Dili.
Today's exhumation of the remains of Manuelito Carrascalão from a private lot in Dili follows the 3 April exhumation of 11 other bodies in the town of Liquica, some 40 kilometers west of the capital.

The remains are known to be those of victims of a pro-Indonesia militia rampage on 17 April 1999 that included an attack on the home of Manuel Viegas Carrascalão, where dozens of pro-independence supporters were sheltering.