Agreements and investments: Singapore opens its doors to East Timorese workers
Steve Suwannarat
The labour agreement, which will come into effect next year, represents a significant opportunity for the small Asian nation’s development. The goal is to avoid dependence on Indonesia or Australia, especially when it comes to resource development. Wong describes the agreement as “mutually beneficial” and “a platform for closer coordination”.
Singapore (AsiaNews) – Singapore has decided to open its doors to East Timorese who wish to work in the city-state, starting next year. This is a significant opportunity for a country, East Timor, seeking not only to emerge from its geographical isolation but also to develop multiple relationships.
For East Timor, the aim is to ensure that contingent needs do not force it to rely on neighbouring Indonesia (from which it freed itself in 1999 after 24 years of colonial occupation) or Australia, which has vast interests in East Timorese natural resources, particularly in the offshore seabed.
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong made the announcement today, during an official visit to Dili, at a joint press conference with East Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
The Singaporean leader cited construction, shipbuilding, manufacturing, and services as the main sectors to offer employment, pragmatically emphasising how the initiative "will create new opportunities for Timorese while also strengthening our business and people-to-people links”.
The agreement, which marks an unprecedented cooperation between the two countries, not only provides access for East Timorese nationals to the city-state's labour market starting in 2027, but also offers highly regulated employment opportunities and the acquisition of new skills that can be used upon return home.
This is part of a broader framework of investment and partnership agreements by a large investor that sees commercial and renewable energy opportunities in the small republic.
Singapore will also support the development of East Timor’s healthcare system and professional qualification and retraining initiatives for local workers.
Although general and preliminary, the agreement – defined by Wong as “mutually beneficial”, providing “a platform for closer coordination” – remains a significant step towards East Timor's integration into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Singapore is a founding member.
A low-middle-income country with a huge infrastructure deficit, the small country (less than 15,000 square kilometres and 1.4 million inhabitants) was admitted to ASEAN as the 11th member on 26 October 2025, 15 years after applying for membership.
Various observers note that taking on ASEAN’s annual rotating presidency in 2029 will pose a challenge for East Timor’s full integration into the organisation.
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29/05/2018 14:44
