Myanmar expels top Timor Leste diplomat over NUG meeting
Timor Leste condemned the expulsion order, reiterating in a statement "the importance of supporting all efforts for the return of democratic order in Myanmar".
Timor Leste condemned the expulsion order, reiterating in a statement "the importance of supporting all efforts for the return of democratic order in Myanmar".
Expecting ASEAN to have fully resolved the complicated Myanmar crisis by now was “unfair”, Ramos-Horta added.
Timor-Leste has been working on obtaining full membership of Asean since it submitted an application in 2011, during Indonesia's Asean chairmanship.
The former Portuguese colony must now wait to see who will be chosen as prime minister by the newly formed legislature.
The upcoming poll is the country's fifth parliamentary election since gaining its independence in 2002.
The small island nation’s has waited more than a decade to be an official member of ASEAN since its initial application in 2011.
On the summit’s first day on May 10, Asean adopted a road map that spelt out the steps that Timor-Leste must take so that it can gain full membership to the bloc.
The Timor-Leste economy is largely dependent on the extraction of oil reserves, which account for around 80 per cent of their GDP.
Since gaining independence from Indonesia in 1999, Timor Leste has flourished into one of the more progressive democracies in Southeast Asia.
Dr Ramos-Horta said that it was preferable for his nation to become the 11th official member of Asean in 2023.