VIETNAM, 10 may 2022 (TATOLI) – Vietnam has no objection to supporting Timor-Leste’s ASEAN membership, said the Ambassador of Timor-Leste to Vietnam, Maria Olandina Isabel Caeiro Alves.
“One of my missions in Vietnam is also focusing on Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN. Vietnam is one of the ASEAN member states that has always supported Timor-Leste’s bid for ASEAN membership. So, they have no objection in supporting Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN,” Alves told TATOLI, in Vietnam, yesterday.
She said the ASEAN’s Fact-Finding Mission will carry out its last observation and evaluation on three pillars such as sociocultural, security, and political and economic, including defense and security.
“Government officials from Vietnam will also involve in the Fact-Finding Mission team, and hoping that with the last observation and evaluation of ASEAN’s Fact-Finding Mission would bring us to join ASEAN as the new member,” she said.
Alves said Timor-Leste is ready to join ASEAN, adding some of the current ASEAN members joined ASEAN but didn’t prepare well at the time of submitting their application.
“In 2011, Timor-Leste’s application for ASEAN membership was submitted. It’s just a matter of time and Timor-Leste will one day join ASEAN,” she stressed.
As a country located in South East Asia, recognized as a sovereign state by all ASEAN members, ready to abide by the Charter, and willing to carry out the obligations of membership, Timor-Leste fulfills key membership criteria stipulated in the ASEAN Charter Article 6. Admission is decided by consensus by the ASEAN Summit, upon the recommendation of the ASEAN Coordinating Council.
Within Government, the introduction and implementation of “ASEAN Blueprints” in national policy development is ensuring that new policies and regulatory frameworks are well aligned and integrated with those of ASEAN.
Journalist: Hortencio Sanchez
Editor: Florencio Miranda Ximenes/Nelia Borges Rosario
Translation: Filomeno Martins
