ABSTRACT
The new nation of East Timor shares the island of Timor with Indonesia. Formerly a Portuguese colony, it became Indonesia’s twenty-seventh province on July 17, 1976, after a brutal invasion eight months earlier. In 1999, the East Timorese voted to end Indonesian rule in a ballot conducted by the United Nations (UN), deciding thus to resume a process of decolonization, which had begun twenty-five years earlier. East Timor is a nation in the making. Left in late 1999 with massive social, political, and economic deficits, this small Southeastern Asian nation is intent on fostering private enterprise activity as a means of generating economic and social development. This chapter provides an overview of East Timor as it enters independence, with a particular focus on its evolving economy and market, and its needs and opportunities for private-sector investment.
