Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor’s senior minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong on Wednesday to discuss strengthening bilateral relations and East Timor’s possible entrance into Asean.
“We hope that when [Hor Namhong] comes to visit us, or when our prime minister comes in the future, we will be able to discuss and agree on some formal cooperation,” Ramos-Horta said.
“On our side, we can offer very little, almost nothing, because we are not even one year independent with a tremendous lack of resources and trained people.”
Ramos-Horta said that East Timor at this stage is mostly learning about how countries like Cambodia have dealt with economic recovery, public administration and agriculture.
“We are very impressed with the progress we have seen in Cambodia,” he said.
While East Timor has not yet been granted Asean membership, many Asean and non-Asean countries, such as the US and Japan, are pushing for it, Ramos-Horta said.
East Timor’s history with Cambodia goes back to the Khmer Rouge government, which in 1977 supported “diplomatically” the party to which Ramos-Horta and East Timor’s current president, Xanana Gusmao, belonged.
“But it lasted only one year,” Ramos-Horta said.
“We support East Timor as a member for joining Asean. East Timor is in Southeast Asia, and Asean is made up of Southeast Asian nations,” Hor Namhong said. He added that before East Timor becomes a full Asean member, it must sign certain pacts and spend at least five years as an Asean observer nation.
Ramos-Horta, who arrived on Monday and is due to depart on Friday, is scheduled to have an audience with King Norodom Sihanouk and to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen.
(Additional reporting by Flora Stubbs)
