Jakarta, February 4, 2023(AseanAll)--Timor-Leste made its debut at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held on February 3,2023.
On the same day, Timor Leste Foreign Minister Adaljiza Magno joined her Southeast Asian counterparts —excluding Myanmar— at the 32nd ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) Meeting at the bloc’s secretariat in Jakarta.
(Photo Courtesy of ASEAN Secretariat)
It was the first time a Timor-Leste delegation had been present at a foreign ministerial level meeting of ASEAN.
The bloc agreed in principle to admit Timor-Leste as its 11th member in November 2022.
“Our ACC meeting is special and historical for ASEAN, whose leaders in Phnom Penh last November agreed in principle to admit Timor Leste as ASEAN’s eleventh member and to grant an observer status, and allow its participation in all ASEAN meetings, including the summit plenaries,” Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said at the ACC opening session.
“Therefore, for the first time, today, we welcome the participation of Timor Leste’s foreign minister,” she said.
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi greets her Timor Leste counterpart Adaljiza Magno before the 32nd ASEAN Coordinating Council meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on Feb. 3, 2023. (Photo Courtesy of Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry)
"It is an honor and privilege for me to be able to take part for the first time in a historic moment of the ACC meeting under Indonesian leadership," Timor Leste Foreign Minister Magno said at the meeting.
"We want to take this very opportune moment to thank all ASEAN member countries for their wise decision to accept us," Magno added.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
East Timor has been colonized by Portugal for a long time in history. After independence in 1975, it was annexed by Indonesia. [1] On August 30, 1999, the referendum decided to secede from Indonesia and formally declared independence on May 20, 2002. In 2011, Timor-Leste began to apply to join ASEAN, and in 2022, "in principle" obtained the green light to join ASEAN.
