Cambodia and Timor-Leste have co-signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), following the conclusion of bilateral talks on a pledge to open markets for trade of goods and services.

It hopes to speed up a joint membership package within the framework of Timor-Leste’s negotiations to join the World Trade Organization.

The MoU was signed on April 21 in Geneva, Switzerland by Long Kemvichet, the ambassador and Permanent Representative of Cambodia to the WTO, and Maria de Lurdes Martins de Sousa Bessa, ambassador and Permanent Representative of Timor-Leste to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva.

At the fifth meeting of the working group on Timor-Leste’s membership on April 20, Kemvichet said that the principles provided by the Cambodian government to conclude the current bilateral talks between Cambodia and East Timor reflected the strong commitment of the head of the Cambodian government to support East Timor’s vision of regional and global integration.

The working group on Timor-Leste’s membership was established on December 7, 2016.

“Within the regional framework of the ASEAN Summit under the chairmanship of Cambodia in 2022, the leaders of the ASEAN Summit agreed in principle to approve Timor-Leste's ASEAN membership application,” he added.

“Within the present global framework, bilateral talks between Cambodia and Timor-Leste make a major contribution to accelerating bilateral talks between Timor-Leste and other members in order to compile a joint membership package that could lead to the formal approval of East Timor to join the WTO at the 13th Ministerial Conference in the United Arab Emirates in February 2024,” he added.