The list of non-regional leaders who attended the summit from Oct. 26 to 28 was impressive: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, European Council President António Costa, Japan’s newly installed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, along with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

Trade was huge on the agenda. Both the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) were updated, representing huge gains for the economies of Southeast Asia. There was also the 5th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit, which has massive potential though its implementation has been shaky so far.

And then, Timor-Leste finally joined the group. The fact that ASEAN has a new member that is a full-fledged democracy, despite its economic and poverty-related challenges, is also something that should be celebrated.

With Dili merely aligning with the business-as-usual status quo that reigns at ASEAN, I sincerely hope Timor-Leste can play a progressive and enlightened role in the bloc.

Up to here, the narrative that the ASEAN summit was a success remains solid, though other less discussed and less visible developments are worth mentioning.

The bloc has renewed its partnership with the UN with an agreement on a next cycle of actions from 2026 to 2030. Some positive progress has been made on the disability right agenda with the endorsement of the Path Ahead that operationalizes the ASEAN Enabling Masterplan 2025, on which the Mid Term Review was presented. There was also a new comprehensive road map for the elimination of child labor.