The Democratic Republic of Timor Leste will become a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by 2017, Indonesian Ambassador to ASEAN Rahmat Pramono said.
“In 2011, when Indonesia was the head of the ASEAN, Timor Leste submitted an application to join ASEAN. The ASEAN member countries agreed to conduct a feasibility study of the new country,” the ambassador said, as quoted by Antara News.
The feasibility study highlighted three pillars on which the qualifications of Timor Leste, a Southeast Asian nation occupying half the island of Timor, to join ASEAN will be evaluated. The three pillars are politics and security, economy, and society and culture.
“The politics, security and economy studies have been assessed, while the sociocultural assessment is expected to be completed by the end of this year,” Rahmat noted.
In addition, Timor Leste must develop its human resources in order to boost the economy of the country, he said.
“However, Timor Leste does not need to wait to complete development of its human resources to become a member of ASEAN. This can be done after Timor Leste has joined the big family of the ASEAN,” Rahmat said.
He added that in the near future, representatives from all the ASEAN countries will meet to discuss Timor Leste’s request to join the regional organization.
Rahmat added that if approved, Timor Leste will become the 11th member country of ASEAN, whose current membership consists of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.
ASEAN eyes FTAs with Eurasia, Hong Kong
Meanwhile, ASEAN senior economic officials will hold a meeting in August to evaluate the potential of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the regional grouping and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Mustapa Mohamed said a consensus among ASEAN members needs to be obtained before discussions with Russia and the four other EAEU countries can be initiated, a news report from Bernama said.
Apart from Russia, which has been an ASEAN dialogue partner since July 1996, the other EAEU members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
It is estimated that the combined gross domestic product of an ASEAN-EAEU FTA will be worth US$3.5 trillion and the total population 700 million.
Another FTA the bloc is looking at is the ASEAN-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement (AHKFTA), which is likely to be concluded this year, opening up opportunities arising from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, said MITI Minister II Ong Ka Chuan.
“Negotiations are ongoing and likely to be concluded and implemented by this year,” he added.
Photo: molly+
