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View all search resultsWhy ASEAN’s partnership model matters for global cooperation
Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN in October 2025 stands as a heartening example of the power of partnership in challenging times.
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An attendant adjusts the flag for Timor-Leste after the country formally joined the ASEAN during the ASEAN Summit on Oct. 26, 2025, in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP/Mohd Rasfan)
L
ast year was challenging for ASEAN. Its leaders struggled to find viable solutions to addressing the ongoing conflict in Myanmar, while border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand were a jarring reminder of long-standing territorial disputes and cultural tensions that historically beset the region.
And yet, even in challenging times, the bloc has not faltered in its overriding purpose. During 2025, it recorded two milestones, its expansion to 11 members and the “substantive agreement” of the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), both partnership models that merit exploration.
Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN in October 2025 stands as a heartening example of the power of partnership in challenging times. It underscores ASEAN’s long-standing commitment to one vision, one identity and one community, and highlights how the bloc’s members can trade years of enmity for mutual support to achieve an outcome that ultimately benefits the bloc as well as its composite parts.
It has taken 14 years for one of the world’s youngest democracies to become part of the bloc, and to achieve this, both Timor-Leste and Indonesia have put years of animosity behind them.
It is both a symbolic and transactional partnership. ASEAN offers the small, young nation regional solidarity, economic development through enhanced opportunities and market access, security, a boost to its sovereignty and a belief that it is ultimately stronger as part of the union.
In turn, Timor-Leste’s accession further boosts ASEAN’s integrity, particularly in areas like its democratic standing and political inclusivity. It potentially offers new market access, and, given its positioning and relations, greater leverage of its strategic location between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
With accession accomplished, there is much work to be done, not least of which is bringing Timor-Leste’s developing economy into the wider economic union. Highlighting one means by which ASEAN works in this respect is DEFA. This is the world’s first region-wide agreement focused on digital economy governance and is due to be signed this year.
