Jakarta: East Timor, Southeast Asia’s youngest nation, is set to achieve a long-held aspiration when it officially becomes the 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this weekend.
East Timor, home to 1.4 million people and slightly larger than Qatar, first applied to join ASEAN in 2011 and was granted observer status in 2022. The country gained independence from Indonesia in 2002, following a 1999 UN-supervised referendum, and shares a border with Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province.
Two of the nation’s independence leaders remain at the helm: President Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1996, and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. Ramos-Horta first raised the idea of joining ASEAN in the 1970s, when East Timor was still a Portuguese colony.
East Timor will be formalized as a member during the ASEAN leaders’ summit from October 26-28, hosted by Malaysia. The country aims to diversify its nearly $2 billion economy, which relies heavily on declining oil and gas reserves.
At the invitation of The Honourable Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia and Chair of ASEAN for 2025, Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, will lead the ASEAN Secretariat Delegation to participate in the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, to be held… pic.twitter.com/bsHtrj3p3l
— ASEAN (@ASEAN) October 23, 2025
While analysts see ASEAN membership as politically beneficial, there are concerns about East Timor’s small economy. ASEAN’s combined GDP is $3.8 trillion, with Indonesia alone contributing $1.4 trillion.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim noted that many ASEAN members were also economically modest when the bloc was first formed. “I’m very optimistic that ASEAN as a community can continue to engage more and assist, as we have benefited from the assistance of many countries,” he said.
ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn highlighted that membership will amplify East Timor’s international voice while providing strategic and economic support. Ramos-Horta described the achievement as the fulfilment of a lifelong dream, stating that, “The road to ASEAN is more difficult than the road to heaven.”
Experts see membership as a boost to East Timor’s political legitimacy in the region. Parker Novak, an East Timor specialist at the International Republican Institute, said the government views ASEAN as a means of strengthening its regional standing.
