The United Kingdom is inching closer to becoming ASEAN’s 11^th dialogue partner this year, after the group’s chair, Brunei, called for the region’s top diplomats to move the process forward at a recent ASEAN summit in Jakarta.

But a long-term ban on expanding the organization’s external relations raises questions about whether and how the partnership will be achieved.

According to Brunei’s statement at the ASEAN leader’s meeting on Myanmar last month, the leaders agreed with the ASEAN Secretariat’s recommendation that the bloc accept the UK’s application for dialogue partnership and “tasked the ASEAN foreign ministers with undertaking the appropriate process” to facilitate the partnership by their next meeting.