Treaty between Australia, Timor Leste gives Timorese new hope

Australia and Timor Leste have hailed what they call a new beginning for their relationship after a long and bitter dispute over their maritime boundary and a $50 billion oilfield.

Timor Leste's Agio Pereira, left, and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop Source: AAP

 

Timor Leste has secured a historic new treaty finally establishing an international border, a treaty signed at the United Nations in New York last Wednesday. But the two neighbours have failed to agree on how to exploit the oil resource that is critical to Timor Leste's future.