Visit of PCA Deputy Secretaries-General to Timor-Leste
From 14 to 16 May 2025, the Deputy Secretaries-General and Principal Legal Counsels of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), Mr. Martin Doe and Mr. Garth Schofield, undertook an official visit to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. The visit included a series of high-level engagements, capacity-building activities, and participation in the Second Dili International Conference on the Law of the Sea and Maritime Dispute Settlement.
On 14 May, the Deputy Secretaries-General paid a courtesy visit to H.E. Vice Prime Minister Francisco Kalbuadi Lay. They subsequently took part in a workshop entitled “The Permanent Court of Arbitration and Timor-Leste: Navigating International Commercial and Investment Disputes”, attended by senior government officials, magistrates and lawyers, including H.E. Vice Prime Minister Kalbuadi Lay and Minister of Justice Sergio Hornai. The workshop provided an opportunity to explore the PCA’s role and services in the field of international dispute resolution, with a focus on investment arbitration and commercial dispute resolution, and how Timor-Leste can effectively access these mechanisms within its legal and institutional framework.
From 15 to 16 May, the Deputy Secretaries-General participated in the Second Dili International Conference on the Law of the Sea and Maritime Dispute Settlement organized by the Land and Maritime Boundary Office of Timor-Leste. The conference brought together senior officials, including H.E. President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão of Timor-Leste, legal experts, and representatives from the Pacific, ASEAN, the g7+ group, CPLP countries and other nations, to examine the role of international law in the peaceful resolution of maritime disputes.
A highlight of the conference was a panel discussion on the resolution of the Timor Sea maritime boundary dispute, which was successfully concluded through a conciliation administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Deputy Secretary-General Martin Doe joined all five Conciliators—Ambassador Peter Taksoe-Jensen, Dr. Rosalie Balkin, Judge Abdul G. Koroma, Prof. Donald McRae, and Judge Rüdiger Wolfrum—to reflect on the conciliation process, which culminated in the 2018 Maritime Boundary Treaty between Timor-Leste and Australia.
Deputy Secretary-General Garth Schofield contributed to the panel on “Recent Developments in Maritime Boundary Settlement,” alongside Judge Jin-Hyun Paik, Sir Michael Wood KCMG KC, and Mr. Rodman Bundy, moderated by Prof. Joanna Mossop.
In recognition of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s essential role in the conciliation process, President José Ramos-Horta awarded the Order of Timor-Leste—the country’s highest civilian honour—to Deputy Secretaries-General Schofield and Doe at a formal ceremony at the Presidential Lahane Palace in Dili.
