Timor-Leste's new Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta will this week make his first trip overseas as premier for talks with key regional partners including Indonesia and Malaysia, local newspaper reported Monday.

Ramos-Horta will head to Jakarta Tuesday for talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, before moving on to Kuala Lumpur for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum.

Ramos-Horta, the former foreign minister who was appointed to the position earlier this month after Mari Alkatiri quit amid bitter factional fighting, said Yudhoyono had been the first leader to call him after he was sworn in, reported The Jakarta Post.

"When President Susilo invited me to visit I took up the offer as I wanted personally to express Timor-Leste's deep appreciation for the moral, political and humanitarian support given to us by the government and the people of the Republic of Indonesia throughout the recent crisis," Ramos-Horta said in a statement.

Timor-Leste voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999 amid mass bloodshed and formally became a nation in 2002.

Ramos-Horta said he would discuss bilateral issues, including the commencement of a border pass regime and the completion of the two countries' land border demarcation.

He also plans to meet with leading members of the Indonesian business community to explore their possible involvement in the economic development in natural resource-rich Timor-Leste.

Ramos-Horta will then travel to Kuala Lumpur to meet his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to thank him for sending peacekeeping troops as part of the UN-sanctioned foreign forces during the recent turmoil.
?
The prime minister will also attend the ASEAN Regional Forum to discuss regional political and security issues. He will also sign his country's formal request for accession to the 10-member organization.

Timor-Leste has been a guest of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting since 2002 and attended the regional forum last year.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2006)