East Timor welcomed Saturday's decision by leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to "in principle" admit the small country as its 11th member, signaling the end of an 11-year quest to join the trading bloc.
Timorese Ambassador to Cambodia Kupa Lopes thanked Cambodia for its "unwavering support" in admitting his country to the group, adding that Dili is happy to fulfill upcoming fact-finding missions aimed at bringing East Timor full membership next year enable. "We look forward to joining ASEAN," he told VOA on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN Leaders' Summit.
So this is very significant for Timor-Leste, and it is also important for ASEAN," he said, using the official name East. Timor.ASEAN said on Friday that its members had "agreed in principle" to absorb East Timor while granting it observer status in the meantime, which would allow the country to attend all meetings and ASEAN plenary summits until full membership is achieved.
ASEAN said in a statement that full uptake would be achieved "after considering the results of fact-finding missions to Timor-Leste conducted by the ASEAN Political and Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community .
The statement said that "ASEAN's Coordinating Council would formalize a roadmap based on objective criteria for Timor-Leste's full membership, including on the basis of milestones identified in reports" of fact-finding missions. Lopes said a final report from the Coordinating Council will be submitted for adoption at next year's summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, along with his country's formal application for membership.
East Timor gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. "Timor-Leste is willing to work with the ASEAN Council and also with the ASEAN Secretariat to fulfill the technical details of the roadmap to become a full member at the next ASEAN Summit," he said.
East Timor was due to join ASEAN this year, with strong support from Cambodia, which holds this year's rotating presidency, but those hopes were dashed at the ASEAN foreign ministers' summit in August when Dili failed to gain unanimous support.
Expressing earlier disappointments with ASEAN, Timorese President José Ramos-Horta told Indonesia's Foreign Policy Community in July, when he said: "It seems that the road to heaven to attain heaven's perfection is easier than to to reach ASEAN's diplomatic gates Sources said two issues have dogged Dili's bid: whether East Timor can afford the costs associated with membership and that he was seen as too close to China.
However, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told foreign ministers that the application is well advanced, it will be reconsidered by Indonesia in 2023 and "by next year we could welcome this country to the ASEAN family". Ambassador Lopes said membership would bring Ea 1 from St. Timor.
37 million people have access to the ASEAN Economic Community and it would open its market to ASEAN's 683 million people. This would allow the Timorese to travel and work in Southeast Asia in industries such as tourism and manufacturing while expanding their own economy.
Timor Leste's economy can be more resilient, and then we can diversify from oil and gas into areas of agriculture and tourism," Lopes said. David Totten, chief executive of Emerging Markets Consulting in Phnom Penh, said the benefits to the nation would be enormous once it was fully accepted and East Timor's constant delays in approval were going on for far too long. sense," he said.
ASEAN is a huge market: for a country like Timor-Leste this would certainly provide a much-needed economic boost for the local population. Cambodia was the last country to join ASEAN in 1999.