Timor-Leste is one step closer to achieving full membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a new announcement putting its accession as soon as October if requirements are fulfilled, according to multiple media reports.
Mohamad Hasan, foreign minister of Malaysia, which currently chairs the Southeast Asian bloc, told media on Sunday that Timor-Leste is on track to join the regional bloc as a full member, saying it could happen as soon as October.
Hasan praised the country’s “meaningful progress in implementing a roadmap” and assured that the foreign ministers of all 10 member nations voiced “strong support” for Timor-Leste’s accession, “particularly in its efforts to fulfil the remaining criteria” of membership. The prime ministers of Malaysia and Laos have also expressed their support during the ASEAN summit, as did the government of the Philippines.
While the Timorese government appeared to echo the announcement with more certainty, claiming that Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim “officially announced that Timor-Leste will achieve full membership in ASEAN at the next ASEAN Summit, scheduled for October 2025,” there is still work to do.
Timor-Leste still needs to institute 66 out of the 84 required legal instruments, most related to ASEAN’s economic platform, before it can fully join the regional organisation.
[See more: Timor-Leste pledges to open doors in ASEAN for Lusophone countries]
ASEAN member states will “now begin undertaking their respective domestic legal procedure to finalise Timor-Leste’s accession process by the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in October, hopefully,” Mohamad told press, although the sheer number of unfulfilled requirements could push full membership into next year.
Timor-Leste first applied for membership in 2011, less than a decade after achieving independence, but found its bid stymied by its poor economic conditions. The country struggles with high levels of poverty, food insecurity and unemployment, as well as rudimentary infrastructure and an oil-dependent economy that is rapidly running dry.
Joining the bloc would allow for greater integration with regional neighbours, opening up opportunities for development and economic diversification. It could also allow Timor-Leste to become a bridge to the region for other Portuguese-speaking countries, as Timorese President José Ramos-Horta outlined during a 2024 visit to Angola.
Established in 1967 by Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, ASEAN aims to promote cooperation among member states to ensure peace, stability and economic, social and cultural development in the region. Brunei joined in the 1980s. In the late 1990s, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam joined – although their admission significantly widened the economic gap between member states, complicating the decision-making process within the bloc.
Admitting Timor-Leste, one of the poorest countries in the world, would only serve to exacerbate the problem, some analysts argue, and there are concerns whether the country could meaningfully participate in ASEAN’s development agenda.
