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Timor Leste 'wants to contribute', not be burden to ASEAN
Timor Leste insists it will work hard to contribute to ASEAN, as calls for its admission to the regional bloc mount amid the growing presence of China in the country and the wider region.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (left) accompanies Timor Leste President Francisco Guterres Lu Olo in inspecting the honor guard during his visit to Bogor Palace in West Java on June 28, 2018. Guterres' visit to Indonesia was his first-ever since taking office just a day prior. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)
T
imor Leste wants to contribute to ASEAN and not be a burden to it, one of the country's high-ranking officials said recently, as Southeast Asia's smallest economy waits for the regional grouping to determine next year whether to offer the country full-fledged membership.
Timor Leste Secretary of State for Cooperatives Arsenio Pereira da Silva said on Saturday that his government was highly committed to joining the Southeast Asian trade bloc and that Dili would ensure its admission won’t put a damper on one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.
“When our heroes were still fighting in the jungle [for independence], they envisioned that we were going to be part of ASEAN as well as other regional organizations,” he told The Jakarta Post at the Pacific Exposition event in Auckland, New Zealand.
“We have made preparations for [admission] a long time, but [...] this will depend on all ASEAN member states.”
ASEAN has kept Timor Leste waiting for eight years, ever since Dili submitted its application in 2011 under Indonesia’s chairmanship of the organization. And while Pereira insists the country had not set a specific timeline for its admission to ASEAN, he insists it wanted “to contribute to ASEAN and not be a burden”.
The most common reason shared among ASEAN member states for the postponement of Dili's admission is skepticism over the country’s ability to fulfill its obligations and responsibilities as a member of the bloc, and that it lacks the human resources and capacity to attend hundreds of ASEAN meetings held every year.
Timor Leste, which celebrates 20 years of the restoration of independence this August, had already joined the ASEAN Regional Forum in 2005 and acceded in 2007 to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation – a prerequisite for countries to engage formally with ASEAN.
