The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed in principle to admit Timor Leste as the group's 11th member, the bloc said in a statement on Friday, more than a decade after the country requested membership.
The half-island nation, officially called Timor Leste, will also be granted observer status at high-level ASEAN meetings.
The statement said the next steps would include a "roadmap for full membership" for Timor Leste to be submitted at next year's summit.
The East Timorese voted for independence from a brutal occupation by neighboring Indonesia in a 1999 UN-supervised referendum, and the country was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2002, making it Asia's youngest democracy.
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