Timor Leste to join ASEAN as 11th member on Oct. 26, says Malaysian premier

ISTANBUL

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Saturday that Timor Leste will become the 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Oct. 26, during the bloc’s summit in Kuala Lumpur.

“We supported (Timor Leste) from the beginning but recently, we have been working hard to ensure that Timor-Leste is accepted as a permanent member of ASEAN,” Anwar said in Seri Iskandar in Malaysia’s Perak state, as cited by the Malay Mail.

Malaysia currently holds the rotating chair of the regional bloc.

The 47th ASEAN Summit will be held in Malaysia’s capital between Oct. 26 and 28, with world leaders in attendance including US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with ASEAN member heads of government and dialogue partners.

ASEAN foreign ministers reaffirmed in a July 9 joint statement their commitment to support Timor-Leste’s integration into the bloc’s economic frameworks, aiming to accelerate its participation in major regional agreements.

Timor-Leste, the youngest nation in Southeast Asia, applied for ASEAN membership in 2011, nearly a decade after gaining independence from Indonesia in 2002.

ASEAN -- a regional bloc was founded in Bangkok on Aug. 8, 1967, and currently includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.