Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, concluded a working visit to the ASEAN Headquarters on Tuesday, marking the country’s first high-level engagement with the regional bloc following its full accession as ASEAN’s 11th member state.
The visit underscored ASEAN’s newest member’s commitment to regional integration and cooperation. It included a symbolic tree-planting ceremony, high-level meetings with the ASEAN Secretary-General and the Committee of Permanent Representatives, the presentation of the “Icon of Timor-Leste” to ASEAN, and the unveiling of Timor-Leste’s national emblem at the ASEAN Secretariat.
A central highlight was Prime Minister Gusmão’s policy speech, delivered before members of the diplomatic corps, ASEAN-affiliated institutions, academics, business leaders, and ASEAN Secretariat staff. Speaking on the theme “Opportunity and Responsibility: Timor-Leste in ASEAN,” Gusmão said his government was strengthening national laws, regulations, and institutions to ensure smooth integration across ASEAN’s political-security, economic, and socio-cultural pillars.
“ASEAN membership brings not only opportunity, but responsibility,” he said, adding that Timor-Leste is now fully part of the region’s political and economic architecture, which “creates space for dialogue, trust, and friendship between countries.”
In his opening remarks, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn described the visit as historic, noting it was the first by a leader of ASEAN’s newest member state to the Secretariat. He said the visit reflected Dili’s strong commitment to ASEAN and reinforced the bloc’s ongoing regional integration. The working visit symbolised the culmination of Timor-Leste’s long path toward ASEAN membership, following its formal accession on 26 October 2025. For Southeast Asia’s youngest nation, the milestone reflects years of post-conflict recovery, institutional reform, and a strategic turn toward deeper regional engagement.