SINGAPORE TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING TIMOR-LESTE
Speaking about how Singapore would help Timor-Leste in gaining ASEAN membership, Mr Lee highlighted the special technical assistance Singapore-Timor-Leste ASEAN Readiness Support (STARS) package that Singapore launched to train Timor-Leste officials in ASEAN knowledge and skills training, as well as education capacity building.
About 800 Timor-Leste officials have come to Singapore, while officials from Singapore have also conducted courses in Timor-Leste for its officials.
“I think that is not easy because it’s a small country. They only have, I think, about a million (in) population. To generate this bureaucracy (and) the officials who can master all of this and participate, I think it will take them awhile. But we will help them to do it as soon as possible,” he said.
Mr Lee acknowledged that many issues in the region concern Timor-Leste, but to join ASEAN is “actually a very heavy responsibility”.
With ASEAN having grown in so many directions and cooperation frameworks spanning various fields, Timor-Leste officials must be armed with the know-how and expertise to participate in ASEAN meetings and “make a sensible contribution”, or even to uphold their own interest and negotiate in “an informed way” to reach a “proper outcome”, he said.
During the plenary on Wednesday, Mr Lee assured Timor-Leste Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak that Singapore will continue to support the country in fulfilling the commitments and obligations in the roadmap necessary for it to become a member state.
Timor-Leste’s Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak was present at the session – where the roadmap was adopted – as an observer for the first time. He had also met with Mr Lee on the sidelines at the summit.
After ASEAN had agreed in principle to admit Timor-Leste as its 11th member at the previous summit in Cambodia, this gave the country observer status at future ASEAN meetings, including plenary sessions.
ASEAN CENTRALITY IMPORTANT AMID TROUBLED WORLD
Mr Lee on Thursday also stressed the need for ASEAN to be unified, cohesive, effective and central amid a troubled world.
“The more troubled the world is, the more you need a safety life raft. And ASEAN is our life raft; it is the life raft for all ASEAN members. Because each one of us, in a global context, we are not that big,” he told reporters.
“But if we are together (as) 10 countries, it’s a significant economic weight, and is a voice which counts for something in regional affairs.”
But upholding ASEAN centrality requires “a substance of the cooperation”, not “just words”, he added, pointing to ongoing discussions related to green and digital economies, upgrading economic cooperation, as well as upgrading free trade agreements with New Zealand, Australia and other countries.
Highlighting the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific as an “inclusive omnidirectional idea”, which is not directed at any particular power but rather to enable ASEAN to cooperate with all of them, Mr Lee acknowledged that these countries “will have contradictions”.
“But hopefully by having ASEAN work with all of them, that generates some common ground amongst them, and that will put ASEAN in a position to be at the centre of regional affairs.”
That, he added, will enable ASEAN to help contribute to a balance of power in the region, therefore enabling ASEAN centrality.
“It’s hard work when you have 10 countries working together, and one more waiting to join … It is never easy to reach a consensus, but it is work which needs to be done,” he said.
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