Rome – The East Timor issue is "an heritage from the Cold War era" that could be solved in the current new political environment, East Timorese activist Josi Ramos Horta has said. Addressing the Socialist International (SI) congress in Rome, Ramos Horta, a 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate, said on Tuesday that in the post-cold war era he believed "the universal principles of democratic socialism will prevail as the most solid and ethical option for the world". He added that SI as well as the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan could have an important role in the promotion of peace and democracy in the Asia-Pacific region. Ramos Horta told Lusa on Monday that East Timor's resistance movement Conselho Nacional da Resistjncia Maubere (CNRM) would apply for an observer status at the SI. The London-based SI was founded in 1951 as an association of socialist parties that believes in parliamentary democracy and opposes communism. East Timor was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed one year later but the United Nations still regards Portugal as the territorys administering power Lusa/Fim