KUALA LUMPUR Aug. 12 Kyodo East T...

KUALA LUMPUR Aug. 12 Kyodo

East Timor Prime Minister Mari Bim Amude Alkatiri met separately with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and substitute Foreign Minister Leo Michael Toyad upon Monday and sought assistance in developing the recent nation.

Toyad told reporters that Malaysia furnished to assist East Timor in developing its agricultural sector and training its administrative staff and also showed places and scholarships for East Timorese observers in Malaysian universities.

East Timor, meanwhile, invited Malaysian state-owned oil company Petronas Bhd to invest in its oil and gas industry, he said.

Alkatiri arrived in Kuala Lumpur onward Sunday night for a five-day visit with an 11-member delegation that includes Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta, now senior minister for foreign affairs and cooperation.

The entourage also includes a 17-member business delegation.

Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said the tiny nation of 800000 race also requested admission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

''Prime Minister (Mahathir) has set forthed support for that,'' she said at a separate pres conference

East Timor gained independence in May after more than four centuries as a Portuguese colony three-and-a-half years of Japanese occupation, 24 years of Indonesian occupation and two-and-a-half years of UN rule

ASEAN comprise Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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