Timor Leste UPSC Notes

About Timor Leste

East Timor or Timor Leste is an island country located in the eastern Lesser Sunda Islands at the south of Malay Archipelago. Timor Leste is bordered by the Wetar Strait to the north, Timor Sea to the southeast, the Ombai Strait to the northwest, and western Timor (part of East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia) to the southwest. Some factual information about East Timor or Timor Leste:

• Topography: It has rugged topography. Mount Tatamailau is located in the central part of the country.
• Climate: Dry tropical climate with moderate annual rainfall.
• Vegetation: Sandalwood in hilly areas. Scrubs and grasses, coconut palms, eucalyptus trees etc grow in the lowlands.

India- Timor Leste Diplomatic Relations

The U.S and India recognised Timor Leste in 2002. India was one of the early countries to establish diplomatic relations with East Timor or Timor Leste and was represented at its Independence Day celebrations in May 2002 by a high-level delegation led by the then MoS(External Affairs) Shri Omar Abdullah. 

• The two countries have signed bilateral agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) to strengthen cooperation in various sectors. These agreements cover areas such as trade, education, culture, and technology
• Timor Leste supports India’s permanent membership in the UNSC. This was formally announced by PM Alkatiri in 2003 at the UNGA.
• In October 2008, Government of India approved a Grant in Aid to Timor Leste for infrastructure projects. An amount of $ 100,000 was transferred by the Mission to the country in March 2010
• India extends 2 ITEC training slots and 10 ICCR scholarships to Timor Leste every year. It also offers slots to TL for training of their diplomats at the Foreign Service Institute of India.
• Under IBSA Fund Projects, ‘Conservation Agriculture, Permaculture and Sustainable Fisheries Management: Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security and Reducing Risk Disaster in Timor-Leste’ project was funded by IBSA for a total cost of $ 1.4 million. Under the project, a Sustainable Agriculture & Permaculture Learning Centre was inaugurated in April 2019 at Atekru, in Atauro Island
• India has extended duty free access to import of products from Timor Leste as part of its Duty Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) Scheme for LDCs. The scheme grants tariff preferences to export of products originating in Timor Leste
• In 2021, India exported $28.8M to Timor-Leste. The bilateral trade between India and Timor-Leste is relatively modest. In 2021, Timor-Leste exported $901 to India.

India’s New Embassy in Timor Leste or East Timor

The President of India praised the Indian community in Timor Leste for strengthening bilateral ties and announced plans to open an Indian embassy there, with Timor-Leste also set to establish a resident mission in New Delhi. In ASEAN - India Summit in 2023, Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi announced the decision to establish an embassy in capital city of Timor Leste i.e Dili

Reason for Establishing Embassy in Timor Leste

With eyes on wolf warrior diplomacy of China and aggressive expansionist approach of China, India is cautious and taking countermeasures to tackle the threat of any misadventure by the Chinese. India is seen as the net security provider in the Indo - Pacific region and thus it is sine qua non for India to boost cooperation with ASEAN nations.

Apart from that, India’s Act East Policy demands to boost trade relations with tiger economies of Asia and thus this is the right step in the right direction to boost its relation with ten member regional grouping.

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