PHNOM PENH – Senate President Hun Sen has been awarded Timor-Leste’s highest state honor, Grand Collar of the Order, for his significant contributions to enhancing ties and continued support for Timor-Leste's upcoming ASEAN membership.

He conducted a successful working visit to Indonesia from May 5 to 7 and continued his official visit to Timor-Leste from May 7 to 9, where President Jose Ramos Horta drove him to his Dili hotel upon his arrival.

“The president and the government of Timor-Leste have given Samdech Techo​ [Hun Sen], the Senate president, the decoration in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the country over the past 20 years, particularly in advancing Timor-Leste's admission to ASEAN as a full member,” former prime minister Hun Sen wrote on his Facebook page.

Cambodia and Timor-Leste established diplomatic relations in 2002, with significant development in recent years. 

Hun Sen visited Timor-Leste as prime minister in 2016, and Ramos-Horta visited Cambodia in October 2022. Cambodia has consistently supported Timor-Leste on the regional and international levels, including its ASEAN admission.

During the visit, Hun Sen said Timor-Leste deserves ASEAN's 11th membership, saying Cambodia has supported its full membership since its inception and has worked diligently to promote consensus on the Timorese proposal.

Ramos-Horta has consistently praised Cambodia's efforts to assist his country's admittance as ASEAN's newest member, expressing a desire for Cambodia and Timor-Leste's friendship to grow even stronger.

Timor-Leste applied to join ASEAN in 2011, but it took 10 years for the bloc to admit the country as the 11th member in principle, under Cambodia's chairmanship in 2022, granting it observer status for all summits and plenaries.

Hun Sen spoke of the significance of ASEAN in promoting peace and establishing a democratic, rule-based and more equitable global order, believing that his presentation would bring significant insights and parallels between Timor-Leste's functioning procedures in ASEAN to the Timorese society, to expand its impact outside the region.

The Timor-Leste government praised Hun Sen’s nation-building, saying Hun Sen, who was PM from 1985 to 2023, is a significant figure in Cambodian history. 

He had played a crucial role in rebuilding the country after the Khmer Rouge regime, promoting political stability, and integrating Cambodia into ASEAN and the international system. 

Hun Sen was a signatory of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords and implemented the Win-Win Policy for national reconciliation. 

On May 9, Hun Sen delivered a speech on the theme “Hun Sen's journey: from genocide and poverty to freedom and prosperity,” where he presented five goals to achieve peace in Cambodia: organizing a meeting between late King Sihanouk and Hun Sen, withdrawing Vietnamese troops, organizing elections with international observers, negotiating with Thailand to define border and sending Cambodian refugees back, as well as organizing an international conference to present Cambodia's achievements.

He said he must remain determined to safeguard the present peace, as it is challenging to find.