Singapore (VNA) – Singapore’sPrime Minister Lee Hsien Loong held talks with his counterpart from Timor LesteTaur Matan Ruak in Singapore on February 15, during which the host affirmedthat his country supports Timor Leste’s process to join ASEAN.

PM Lee expressed his expectation that TimorLeste officials will participate in the courses under the "Singapore -Timor Leste ASEAN Readiness Support" (STARS) package.

The two leaders reaffirmed the soundrelations between the two countries and discussed measures to further promotetheir bilateral ties in the time to come.

Immediately after becoming an independentcountry in 2002, Timor Leste began the process of regional integration. InMarch 2011, it officially applied to join ASEAN and was granted observer statusin 2015.

At the ASEAN Summits in November 2022, the association issued a statementaffirming the in-principle admission of Timor-Leste as the 11th member of ASEAN,and allowing its participation in all ASEAN meetings including at the Summitplenaries, while formalising an objective criteria-based roadmap forTimor-Leste's full membership including based on the milestones identified inthe reports of the fact-finding missions conducted by the three ASEAN Communitypillars.

Meanwhile, President of Timor Leste JoséRamos-Horta once expressed hope that the country can become the 11th member ofASEAN by 2023. Singapore has pledged to support Timor Leste's engagement in theassociation.

Currently, ASEAN groups 10 member nations,namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam./.