KUALA LUMPUR: Timor Leste will now be one step away from being an official member of Asean, some 14 years after it first applied to be a member of the regional grouping.
On the agenda of the 47th Asean Summit and Related Summits on Saturday (Oct 25), is the ceremony to deposit the Instrument of Accession to the Asean Charter by Timor-Leste.
This formal document is signed as part of the process of becoming an official Asean member. This also means that the country had agreed to abide by the Asean Charter.
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This ceremony will be followed by the ceremony of Depositing of the Instrument of Accession to the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty by Timor-Leste— a commitment by the member states to prevent the development, possession, and use of nuclear weapons in the region and to keep it free from other weapons of mass destruction.
Timor-Leste will officially become a member of Asean on Oct 26.
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Also part of the order of business of the day is the first Asean Joint Foreign and Economic Ministers’ Meeting.
Asean Foreign Ministers will also hold a meeting at 9am on Saturday.
Other events scheduled for today are the Signing Ceremony of the Instrument of Accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) which will be attended by Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and the 30th Asean Political-Security Community (APSC) Council Meeting.
