Australia, East Timor to sign treaty at UN that could unlock billions for impoverished nation

Australia and East Timor will on Tuesday sign a treaty at the United Nations to end a dispute over their maritime border and potentially unlock billions of dollars in revenue from offshore oil and gas.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will preside over the signing ceremony to be attended by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Deputy Prime Minister Agio Pereira of East Timor, Asia’s youngest nation which joined the United Nations in 2002.

The treaty could provide a major boost to East Timor’s struggling economy with an agreement on sharing revenue from the Greater Sunrise oil and gas fields, worth between US$40 billion and US$50 billion.

Following a final round of negotiations in Kuala Lumpur last month, Australia and East Timor agreed to the treaty that delimits the maritime boundary between them in the Timor Sea and establishes revenue-sharing arrangements.

East Timor in 2016 dragged Australia before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the world’s oldest arbitration tribunal, based in The Hague, after contesting a previous deal signed in 2006.