Timor-Leste's ASEAN membership bid gains strong regional backing

The Sun

25-05-2025

KUALA LUMPUR: ASEAN Foreign Ministers today reaffirmed their strong support for Timor-Leste's full membership in the regional bloc, acknowledging the country's significant progress in implementing the ASEAN Roadmap.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the development marked one of the key highlights of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM), held on the sidelines of the 46th ASEAN Summit here, which also endorsed a proposal to establish a Special Taskforce for Timor-Leste.
He emphasised, however, that Timor-Leste must work diligently to fulfil all requirements and ensure compliance with ASEAN's legal instruments, expressing hope that full membership could be formalised during the ASEAN Summit with Dialogue Partners at the end of October this year.
'On this matter (the establishment of a Special Taskforce for Timor-Leste), as mentioned by the ASEAN Secretary-General, there is already a Timor-Leste Unit tasked with facilitating the country's fulfilment of the Roadmap, including its accession to ASEAN's legal instruments,' he said.
'We commend the meaningful progress made by Timor-Leste in implementing the Roadmap, as reflected in the Progress Report,' he added during a press conference today.
Earlier, Mohamad chaired the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM), held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC).
Mohamad reiterated that Timor-Leste must work doubly hard to fulfil all legal requirements, most of which fall under the ASEAN Economic Community.
'There's so many legal instruments they have to fulfill especially on economic sector pillars, about 66 legal instruments to fulfil... (so) why not we rope them in first, then we give them certain number of years for them (to fulfil the requirement),' he said.
'...this is a way for us to ensure that it is in line with the theme of ASEAN this year, which is inclusivity and sustainability. We must be inclusive; Timor-Leste should be included in the ASEAN as a full membership,' he added.
Mohamad said that today's meetings also called for continued deliberations by the ASEAN Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) to develop the necessary guidelines to facilitate Timor-Leste's legal accession and full participation within ASEAN institutions.
In a related development, he noted that the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) Commission had adopted a draft addendum to the SEANWFZ Treaty, providing a legal pathway for Timor-Leste's accession to the treaty.
The adoption of the Addendum, he said, marks a significant milestone in integrating Timor-Leste into ASEAN's political and security frameworks, noting that ASEAN member states will now begin domestic legal procedures aimed at finalising Timor-Leste's accession by the 47th ASEAN Summit in October.
He added that the outcomes of the ministerial-level meetings will be further deliberated at the ASEAN Leaders' level during the 46th ASEAN Summit, chaired by Malaysia.
Timor-Leste, which gained independence in 2002, was granted observer status in ASEAN in 2022 and has since been working towards full membership based on a structured Roadmap endorsed by the regional bloc.
The 46th ASEAN Summit and its related meetings, held under Malaysia's 2025 Chairmanship theme 'Inclusivity and Sustainability', are expected to address a broad range of pressing regional and international issues, with the ongoing crisis in Myanmar remaining a central concern for ASEAN member states.
This year marks Malaysia's fifth time chairing the regional organisation, having previously assumed the ASEAN Chairmanship in 1977, 1997, 2005, and 2015.
In addition to the ASEAN-level meetings, two key inter-regional summits—the 2nd ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and the ASEAN-GCC-China Summit—will also take place on May 26 and 27, signalling the growing engagement between Southeast Asia and its strategic partners in the Gulf and China.