East Timor remains hopeful to gain ASEAN membership

Thu Nov 17, 2011
Source: Press TV

East Timor's application to join ASEAN was discussed during the ASEAN summit on November 16th in Bali. It is one of the two countries that are currently in the process of applying to join ASEAN; the other country is Papua New Guinea.

Indonesia and Cambodia both support East Timor's bid to join ASEAN. Other ASEAN states have taken a more cautious approach because they want to strengthen economic cooperation and integration before expanding.

Dinna Wisnu, the Director of the Graduate School of Diplomacy, believes that East Timor is unlikely to join ASEAN in the next one or two years. However she emphasizes the importance of not leaving East Timor out in the cold.

While the country has yet to join ASEAN it has joined many other regional associations such as the South East Asian Games, which are currently being hosted in Jakarta. East Timor is the only non-ASEAN member state in the competition.

Most East Timorese hope that their participation in the SEA games is a prelude to a future role for their country in ASEAN.

In parallel discussions the Executive ASEAN Committee reviewed The South East Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty.

These meetings are a precursor to the 19th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits that are held between the 17th-19th November.