Asean agrees in principle to admit East Timor as 11th member

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has agreed in principle to admit East Timor as the group's 11th member, the bloc said in a statement on Friday.

The half-island nation, officially called Timor Leste, will also be granted observer status at high-level Asean meetings, the bloc said after regional leaders met in Phnom Penh for a summit.

"We... agreed in principle to admit Timor Leste to be the 11th member of Asean," the statement said, adding that next steps would include a "roadmap for full membership" to be submitted at next year's summit.

The East Timorese voted for independence from a brutal occupation by neighbouring Indonesia in a 1999 UN-supervised referendum, and the country was officially recognised by the United Nations in 2002, making it Asia's youngest democracy.

The resource-rich country of 1.3 million people immediately started the process of accession to Asean, but only formally applied for membership in 2011.