Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao hails membership as starting of an ‘inspiring new chapter’ for Asia’s youngest nation.
East Timor has joined the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) because the bloc’s eleventh member state in a transfer Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao hailed as a “dream realised”.
The flag of East Timor, which is often known as Timor-Leste, was added to ASEAN’s different 10 on Sunday at a proper ceremony on the bloc’s annual summit on the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, drawing loud applause.
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An emotional Gusmao mentioned it was a historic second for his nation, with a brand new starting that will deliver “immense alternatives” for commerce and funding.
“For the folks of Timor-Leste, this isn’t solely a dream realised, however a strong affirmation of our journey – one marked by resilience, willpower and hope,” Gusmao mentioned.
“Our accession is a testomony to the spirit of our folks, a younger democracy, born from our wrestle,” he mentioned.
“This isn’t the tip of a journey. That is the start of an inspiring new chapter.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose nation at present chairs ASEAN, mentioned that East Timor’s accession “completes the ASEAN household – reaffirming our shared future and deep sense of regional kinship”.
The nation’s admission follows a 14-year wait, and is seen as one of many crowning achievements of Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship.
East Timor was dominated for 3 centuries by Portugal, which abruptly pulled out of its colony in 1975, paving the best way for annexation and an at-times bloody occupation by neighbouring Indonesia earlier than East Timor received full independence in 2002.
East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta, who additionally witnessed the occasion on Sunday, has lengthy campaigned for ASEAN membership. An utility was first submitted in 2011, throughout his first time period.
Ramos-Horta, 75, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996, had raised the concept of East Timor becoming a member of ASEAN method again within the Seventies, to safe his nation’s future via regional integration.
East Timor was granted observer standing to the regional physique in 2022, however its full membership was delayed by varied challenges.
The nation of 1.4 million folks is amongst Asia’s poorest and hopes to see positive factors from integrating its fledgling economic system, which at about $2bn represents solely a tiny fraction of ASEAN’s collective $3.8 trillion gross home product (GDP).
Some 42 % of East Timor’s inhabitants lives beneath the nationwide poverty line, whereas almost two-thirds of its residents are underneath 30 years previous.
Its main supply of presidency income comes from the oil and gasoline business, however with assets shortly changing into depleted, it’s trying to diversify.
ASEAN membership offers East Timor entry to the bloc’s free commerce offers, funding alternatives and a broader regional market.
In an interview with Singapore-based Channel Information Asia in September, Ramos-Horta mentioned that his nation should keep stability and never burden ASEAN, including that East Timor may contribute its expertise on battle, together with for disputes over borders and the South China Sea.
“If we are able to sooner or later contribute in direction of strengthening ASEAN mechanisms equivalent to battle mechanisms, that’s key. In every nation in ASEAN, we put emphasis on dialogue,” Ramos-Horta mentioned.
ASEAN started as a five-member bloc in 1967 and has regularly expanded, with Cambodia beforehand the newest addition in 1999.
