This article is 20 years old. Images might not display.
Gusmao arrived in Hobart yesterday, starting a week-long visit that will take in Canberra, Sydney, the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Melbourne.
A spokesman for foreign minister Alexander Downer said the minister would talk to Gusmao about the disputed seabed boundary between the two nations when the two met in Sydney on Thursday, but it was not expected that a deal would be finalised this week.
East Timor and Australia are close to signing off on a deal over the $40 billion reserves.
Under the deal, the tiny nation would set aside for 50 years its demand for a permanent maritime boundary in the petroleum-rich Timor Sea.
In exchange, East Timor would receive a 90% share of revenues from the Joint Petroleum Development Area, worth more than $10 billion.
