East Timor–Malaysia relations or Malaysia–Timor-Leste relations are

foreign relations A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through m ...

between

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

. Malaysia has an embassy in Dili, and East Timor has an embassy in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

. Malaysia is supporting East Timor to be one of the members of

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

and towards becoming a democratic country.

History

Since 1999, Malaysia has contributed to many UN peacekeeping missions on the country, such as one are the

Operation Astute Operation Astute was an Australian-led military deployment to East Timor to quell unrest and return stability in the 2006 East Timor crisis. It was headed by Brigadier Bill Sowry, and commenced on 25 May 2006 under the command of Brigadier Micha ...

during the 2006 East Timorese crisis. Malaysia also has provided assistance to Timor-Leste in the area of human resources development through various training programmes and providing assistance to East Timor in its nation building efforts. Currently, Malaysia has been consider by East Timorese as a model to develop their countries.

Economic relations

Both countries are currently working together to expand the scope of co-operation and currently tangible signs of a Malaysian present on East Timor can be seen in the form of restaurants, a school teaching English and the supply of construction materials and spare parts for vehicles. In 2014, a memorandum of understanding on cooperative development and co-operation signed between the University of Malaysia Sabah and the

National University of East Timor The National University of East Timor (UNTL; pt, Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa'e; Tetum: ''Universidade Nasionál Timór Lorosa'e''), is a public university in East Timor, the only one of its kind in the country. Founded in 2000, as a result ...

, a day before an MoU on healthcare been signed. The total trade between the two countries has increased from U$10 million in 2012 to U$21.2 million in 2013 and the East Timorese government has expressed their interest to work with the Malaysian counterparts in

oil and gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and combustion, burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, petroleum, oil, and natura ...

sectors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:East Timor-Malaysia relations

Bilateral relations of Malaysia