“In principle, Timor-Leste has already been accepted as a new member of ASEAN, and we have already participated in all meetings, at all levels, including exclusive meetings and retreats of government members. We have the right to speak and contribute. We just don’t have Veto, that’s a complete adhesion,” said Adalgiza Majno in Lusa’s remarks from Indonesia.
“The final decision depends on ASEAN, but on Wednesday we will have the adoption of the road map and this is an important step. We will know what we need to do to prepare for full membership,” he explained.
Magno was speaking to Lusa from Labuan Bajo, a small town in the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) that this week is hosting the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, in which East Timor is still participating. as an observer.
Magno explained that one of the highlights of the meeting was the approval of a roadmap that will outline the steps that Timor-Leste needs to take, covering issues such as preparing human resources, building infrastructure, and adopting the organization’s agreements.
“Timor-Leste contributed to the preparation of this script. The final draft will be approved tomorrow [terça-feira] And then it will be approved at the summit of heads of state and government.
“When that happens, our government can formalize our implementation plan which, in my opinion, should include the country’s development plans, and priorities in the short, medium and long term,” he stressed.
The head of diplomacy highlighted the economic issue as one of the main aspects, pointing to the difficulties East Timor faces in terms of diversifying its economy and searching for alternatives to dependence on oil revenues and attracting foreign investment.
In this sense, he stressed that ASEAN membership will help Timor-Leste in this process, due to the various agreements in the economic field that may help bring investment from the region.
The roadmap includes aspects such as benchmarks and milestones to be met by Timor-Leste, details on the implementation of various regional agreements, financial commitments, the physical infrastructure needed in the country to host ASEAN meetings, and even the establishment of diplomatic missions in all countries. members.
Implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes are also part of the document.
The official date of accession – marked by the right of veto, in an organization whose decisions are approved by consensus – will depend on the Roadmap implementation agenda, which is accompanied by various annexes with sectoral objectives.
Then, at the end of the year, there will be a new ASEAN summit, this time extending to the organization’s dialogue partners, among them the European Union and countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, China and South Korea.
East Timor will be represented at the Labuan Bajo summit by the head of government, Tawer Matan Ruak, who will leave on Tuesday for Labuan Bajo where he will be the first Timorese leader to participate in the ASEAN summit.
In a statement, the executive notes that “East Timor has been formally invited by the ASEAN Presidency, which currently belongs to Indonesia, to formally participate for the first time in the ASEAN Summit, as the 11th Member State (but still as a status observer) After being unanimously accepted by the ten member states, in November 2022, at the 41st Summit held in Phnom Penh.
During the summit, Tor Matan Ruak will have the opportunity “to hold bilateral meetings with heads of state and government of ASEAN member states, to seek to deepen relations and cooperation, both bilaterally and multilaterally, within ASEAN.”
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