Today's Edition
KUALA LAMPUR (AFP)
East Timor joined the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc as its 11th member state on Sunday, after 14 years of campaigning.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose country currently chairs ASEAN, said East Timor's accession "completes the ASEAN family -- reaffirming our shared destiny and deep sense of regional kinship".
"Within this community, Timor-Leste's development and its strategic autonomy will find firm and lasting support," Anwar told an ASEAN summit in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
East Timor, also known by its Portuguese name Timor-Leste, is the youngest country in the region, having gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after 24 years of occupation. It is home to 1.4 million people and has a $2 billion GDP.
President Jose Ramos-Horta has long campaigned for ASEAN membership, and an application was first submitted in 2011 during his first term.
The signing of a declaration on East Timor's admission on Sunday is also seen as one of the crowning achievements of Malaysia's ASEAN chairmanship.
East Timor was granted observer status to the regional body in 2022.
ASEAN began as a five-member bloc in 1967 and has gradually expanded, with Cambodia the most recent addition in 1999.
