Arao Noe, President of National Parliament, told media on Thursday that regulations submitted to Council of Ministers last week would be discussed. These included law amendments to Timor-Leste’s tax law, oil fund law, oil activities law and the Timor-Gap Law.

The laws need to be changed before the ratification of the treaty to delimit the maritime border can pass.

Signed in March 2018, the treaty with Australia should resolve a long-running dispute of the Timor Sea boards, which has delayed the development of the Greater Sunrise gas field, which was discovered in 1974.

Australia has long fought to have a boundary aligned with its continental shelf, but Timor-Leste has argued the border should lie half way between it and Australia – placing much of the Greater Sunrise gas field under its control.