The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to admit East Timor as the group’s 11th member.
- East Timor, officially called Timor Leste, will also be granted observer status at high-level ASEAN meetings, the bloc said after regional leaders met in Phnom Penh for 40th-41st ASEAN summit.
- The observer status would enable the country to participate in all ASEAN meetings and summit plenaries until full membership is achieved.
- East Timor would be the first new member of the regional grouping in more than two decades, since Cambodia was admitted in 1999.
About East Timor
- The East Timorese voted for independence from a brutal occupation by neighbouring Indonesia in a 1999 U.N.-supervised referendum, and the country was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2002, making it Asia’s youngest democracy.
About ASEAN
- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
- Brunei Darussalam joined ASEAN on 7 January 1984, followed by Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.
