ASEAN States Agree to Speed up Timor Leste's Induction: MOFA

TheIndonesia.id - An official at Indonesian Ministry of Affairs confirmed that Southeast Asian countries had agreed to speed up the induction process for Timor Leste to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

Head of leadership strategic support bureau at the Ministry Achmad Rizal Purnama said the agreement to accelerate the process of making Timor Leste an ASEAN state member was stated in a joint communique released after the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Cambodia last week.

“Hopefully, the written political commitment in the joint communique signals the time for Timor Leste to join and become a member of ASEAN,” Purnama said on Thursday, August 11, as reported by Antara.

According to him, the process has been ongoing for 10 years with team deployed to gather insights into Timor Leste’s preparedness to join the association based on three pillars, which are political-security, economy, and sociocultural.

Report about the findings were presented during the ministerial level meeting.

“After this, there will be comprehensive assessment related to Timor Leste’s planned induction into ASEAN, and hopefully, the process can run faster,” Purnama said, adding that the process is expected to complete within this year or next year.

He also reiterated that Indonesia considers it important for Timor Leste to join ASEAN based on strategic geopolitical consideration.

Previously, during his visit to Indonesia in July, Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta said the country hoped to join ASEAN in 2023 during Indonesia’s chairmanship and said the plan’s realization will be the pinnacle of the two countries’ bilateral relations.

“I would like to see Timor Leste joining ASEAN during Indonesian presidency, and Indonesia has been very supportive of Timor Leste membership in ASEAN,” the President said on July 21.

“It would be the culmination of this great journey and history between Timor Leste and Indonesia,” Ramos-Horta added.