The discussion on Timur-Leste's full Asean membership is still at the Senior Officers' Meeting (SOM) level and has not yet reached the Asean summit agenda, said Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday (Oct 22), the Foreign Minister noted that efforts to expedite Timur-Leste's membership are underway, emphasising that its inclusion would add value to the regional bloc.
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Speaking to reporters on Tuesday (Oct 22), the Foreign Minister noted that efforts to expedite Timur-Leste's membership are underway, emphasising that its inclusion would add value to the regional bloc.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Dr. Swee, with the writing of the next year in ASEAN,
00:04are we going to see a new chapter in the history of Timor-Leste in ASEAN?
00:11Timor-Leste has been a developing country for several years.
00:17The effort to make Timor-Leste as a full member of ASEAN is indeed being done
00:24and is being accelerated in our summit.
00:32One of our agendas is to see, on a best effort basis,
00:39whether Timor-Leste will be accepted and acceded to ASEAN.
00:45There is a lot of documentation that needs to be done,
00:50such as treaty, TAC, Treaty of Unity, and cooperation.
00:55But most of the documents are based on the economy.
01:00And we have asked the economy to look at and study,
01:05if possible, to narrow down the list of requirements.
01:12Because for me, there are ASEAN members who have not yet reached their full potential.
01:22Why not give that leeway to Timor-Leste to become a full member of ASEAN?
01:32That is for the good of ASEAN.
01:34When we have Timor-Leste, it will force ASEAN to become a bloc,
01:40rather than a single country.
01:42Do you think that will happen?
01:45I think it will happen on a best effort basis.
01:48We will try.
01:50Because whatever decision is made by ASEAN members,
01:55it has to be on a consensus basis.
01:57It is not a chairman's call,
02:01but it is based on consensus.
02:03And consensus is important.
02:05That is the condition.
02:07So you just want to clarify that there is no consensus
02:11between ASEAN members and Timor-Leste members?
02:17It has not been brought forward yet.
02:19We have not put it as an agenda yet.
02:22We are still working on it.
02:25On a national basis.
02:27But this SOM level, Senior Officers' Meeting,
02:30gave feedback that this is what Timor-Leste needs to do.
02:36That is why we, as leaders,
02:38we have given a view that,
02:41as I said earlier,
02:43there are 86 documents on cluster economy,
02:48but there are only 60 on cluster economy.
02:51Why not cluster economy,
02:54the operational level of SOM needs to be looked at
02:57so that we can compress it,
02:59or reduce it a little.
03:01And after tomorrow, we will share it.
03:03In five years' time, you have to comply with everything.
03:07Or in 10 years, 5 years.
03:09We will bring it forward.
03:11But this has not yet been put as an agenda in ASEAN terms.
03:16So the question of consensus or not,
03:19that has not been raised yet.