Asean Secretary General and Foreign Ministers (except Myanmar) attend the 32nd Asean Coordinating Council meeting in Jakarta on February 3, 2023. - Foreign ministers attending: Malaysia's Zambry Abdul Kadir, Brunei's Erywan Pehin Yusof, Singapore's Vivian Balakrishnan, Thailand's Don Pramudwinai, Vietnam's Bui Thanh Son, Indonesia's Rento Marsudi, Laos' Saleumxay Kommasith, Philippines' Enrique Austria Manalo, Cambodia's Prak Sokhonn, East Timor's Adaljiza Magno, Asean Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn. - AFP
JAKARTA, Feb 4 (Xinhua): Timor-Leste made a debut at a meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) held here on Friday, marking a move closer towards its full membership in Asean.
Friday's agenda was the meeting session of the Asean Coordinating Council (ACC), a part of the three-day Asean Foreign Ministers Retreat at the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta from Feb. 2 to Feb. 4.
Timor-Leste was represented by its Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Adaljiza Magno.
The presence of the Timor-Leste delegation was the first time at the foreign ministerial level meeting of Asean, after the bloc agreed in principle to admit Timor-Leste as its 11th member in November 2022.
"It is an honor and privilege for me to be able to take part for the first time in a historic moment of the ACC meeting under Indonesian leadership," Magno said at the forum.
"We want to take this very opportune moment to thank all Asean member countries for their wise decision to accept us," she added.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. - Xinhua
