During the Asian Development Bank (ADB) 2025 Annual Meeting in Milan, ADB President Masato Kanda reaffirmed the Bank\u2019s commitment to supporting Timor-Leste\u2019s economic development and its path toward full ASEAN membership. In high-level bilateral meetings held today, President Kanda met with Timor-Leste’s Minister of Finance, Santina Jose Rodrigues Ferreira, and Minister of Planning and Strategic Investment, Gast\u00e3o Francisco de Sousa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Kanda emphasized ADB\u2019s continued assistance to Timor-Leste, particularly in providing technical support and capacity-building programs to aid the country’s ASEAN accession process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPresident Kanda began the meeting by expressing ADB\u2019s strong commitment to Timor-Leste\u2019s efforts to become a full ASEAN member,\u201d said Minister Santina. \u201cADB has already delivered technical assistance for key studies related to ASEAN accession, as well as for Timor-Leste\u2019s engagement in the World Trade Organization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister Santina also highlighted ongoing fiscal reforms, including preparations to introduce a Value-Added Tax (VAT) system. \u201cThe Ministry of Finance is currently reviewing reforms needed to implement VAT. We are relying on ADB\u2019s expertise to help develop the legal framework, systems, and capacity tailored to Timor-Leste\u2019s needs,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Milena Rangel expressed confidence that Timor-Leste is on track to meet ASEAN\u2019s membership criteria. \u201cWe are proud to have successfully implemented the Roadmap, which includes seven core criteria. While some were relatively straightforward, others were complex and required coordinated national effort,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have engaged all key stakeholders\u2014from government institutions to civil society and the private sector\u2014and have informed ASEAN member states that Timor-Leste is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vice Minister Rangel also mentioned feedback from ASEAN member countries suggesting that Timor-Leste could officially join the regional bloc as early as May or October this year. \u201cThis is not due to any waivers or exceptions. It is because we have met all seven criteria comprehensively,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Independent policy analyst Guteriano Neves, writing in Southeast Asia Globe<\/em>, underscored the importance of strengthening human capital to ensure Timor-Leste\u2019s competitiveness in the region. \u201cImproving human capital requires political will and top-level leadership. Addressing institutional and administrative weaknesses is vital for Timor-Leste\u2019s successful integration into ASEAN,\u201d Neves said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Timor-Leste advances on the path to regional integration, ADB\u2019s sustained support continues to be a cornerstone of its development journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" During the Asian Development Bank (ADB) 2025 Annual Meeting in Milan, ADB President Masato Kanda reaffirmed the Bank\u2019s commitment to supporting Timor-Leste\u2019s economic development and its path toward full ASEAN membership. In high-level bilateral meetings held today, President Kanda met with Timor-Leste’s Minister of Finance, Santina Jose Rodrigues Ferreira, and Minister of Planning and Strategic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"amp_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[63,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-notisia","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20598"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20600,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20598\/revisions\/20600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}