Media Releases
- 29 of September of 2022Note of Condolence on the death of Bishop Hilton Deakin, a friend of Timor-LesteThe Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste has received with deep sadness the news of the passing away of Bishop Hilton Deakin, a fierce defender of human rights and the self-determination of the Timorese people.more
- 28 of September of 2022Vote of Condolence on Jape Kong Su’s DeathThe 8th Constitutional Government, in the meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 28th 2022, approved a vote of condolence for the passing away, last Monday, of Jape Kong Su, at the age of 97, in Australia.more
- 28 of September of 2022Meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 28th, 2022Presidency of the Council of Ministersmore
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 28th, 2022
The Council of Ministers met, at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, regarding the Remuneration Supplement to public servants and agents of the Public Administration who perform training functions in the Public Administration. This draft Decree-Law had already been subject to deliberation at the meeting of the Council of Ministers on July 27th 2022, however, due to the introduction of some changes in the final drafting stage, it became necessary to submit it to a new deliberation.
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Two draft Decree-Laws, presented by the Minister of Health, Odete Maria Freitas Belo, on the exercise of Healthcare professions and the careers of healthcare professionals, were also approved.
The first draft Decree-Law aims to proceed with the third amendment to Decree-Law No. 14/2004, of September 1st, as amended by Decree Laws No. 40/2011, of September 21st, and No. 4/2019, of March 13th, on the Exercise of Healthcare Professions. This amendment aims to increase the requirements for obtaining a professional license, improve the qualifications of health professionals, improve the quality of the healthcare provided, and increase confidence in those professionals' technical and ethical quality.
The second draft Decree-Law concerns the first amendment to Decree-Law no. 13/2012, of March 7th, on Healthcare Professionals Careers. The aim is to dignify and value healthcare professionals through a career marked by rigorous stages of general and specialized postgraduate training, but also subject to institutional recognition, through legal mechanisms that allow fair and equitable progression and promotion.
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Also approved was the draft Government Resolution, referring to the National Action Plan against Gender-Based Violence 2022-2032 (PAN-VBG 2022-2032), presented by the Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, and the Secretary of State for Equality and Inclusion, Maria do Rosário Fátima Correia.
The PAN-VBG 2022-2032 was developed based on an evaluation process of the current plan and an extensive consultation at the national and municipal levels with ministerial lines, national institutions, service providers, civil society organizations and development partners. The plan sets out three strategic pillars or priority areas: violence prevention, provision of essential services to victims of violence, and legal support and access to justice.
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The Council of Ministers approved the draft Decree-Law project, presented by the Vice Prime-Minister and Minister of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, Armanda Berta dos Santos, for the first amendment to Decree-Law no. 37/2022, of May 25th, regarding the end-of-year allowance for each family.
With this legislative intervention, adjustments are being made to the text of the aforementioned Decree-Law, in an attempt to avoid possible doubts regarding the universe of possible beneficiaries of this social support, to reaffirm the meaning of the decision to award this allowance to all families with a valid registration made until February 28th, 2022, regardless of whether they are in a vulnerable situation or not, or regardless of whether any of their members work in the public administration.
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The Minister of Public Works, Abel Pires da Silva and the President of the Board of Directors of Bee Timor-Leste, E. P. (BTL, E.P.), Carlos Peloi dos Reis, gave a presentation on the implementation of the agreement between the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) on water, sanitation and drainage.
This component, which is part of the cooperation agreement signed with MCC on July 19th, 2022, aims to reduce the contamination of drinking water and groundwater, which is responsible for causing diseases and hindering the well-being and health of children and adults.
The project comprises the construction of a chemical disinfectant production plant for the city's water supply system, the construction of the country's first central wastewater system, and the improvement of the drainage network for the capital Dili and four neighbouring municipalities. Under this programme, policy and institutional reforms as well as social and behavioural changes will also be undertaken to improve the sanitation system and water management at the household level.
The water, sanitation and drainage component, besides its direct impact on citizens' health, will also act to reduce the risk of flooding, which has affected Timor-Leste so much in recent years, avoiding its environmental and socio-economic impacts, by ensuring sustainable management of water and sanitation.
The water treatment activity is projected to benefit 429,000 people in Dili municipality and 64,000 outside Dili. The sanitation project will benefit more than 106,000 Dili residents and according to the master plan is expected to benefit more than 300,000 people in the capital by 2036.
The water, sanitation and drainage component will have a total investment of US$ 372.2 million. The water treatment activities will cost US$ 8.3 million, the sanitation system will use US$ 342.8 million, and the drainage system will cost US$ 8.9 million. Also included in this project are about US$ 7 million for institutional strengthening and regulatory reform and US$ 5.2 million for social and behavioural change campaigns.
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The Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak and the Deputy Regional Secretary to the President of the Oe-Cusse Ambeno Special Administrative Region Authority (RAEOA- Acronym in Portuguese), Leonia da Costa Monteiro, presented to the Council of Ministers the political-legislative options underlying the initiative to amend the Statute of the Oe-Cusse Ambeno Special Administrative Region.
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The Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, José Lucas do Carmo da Silva, presented the political-legislative options underlying the initiative to create a general regime of rules of origin.
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Lastly, the Council of Ministers approved a vote of condolence for the death of Jape Kong Su, a Timorese businessman who passed away yesterday, September 27th, in Australia, at the age of 97. END
- 21 of September of 2022Meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 21st, 2022Presidency of the Council of Ministersmore
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 21st, 2022
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and approved the draft Decree-Law which aims to establish the Legal Framework for the Public-Private Partnership for Diagnostic Services, presented by the Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes and the Minister of Health, Odete Maria Freitas Belo. This draft Decree-Law had already been subject to deliberation at the Council of Ministers meeting on July 27th, 2022, however, due to some amendments introduced in the final drafting phase, it became necessary to submit it to a new deliberation.
The draft Decree-Law, presented by the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Joaquim Amaral, for the first amendment to Decree-Law No. 34/2017, of September 27th, on the exercise and licensing of economic activities, was approved.
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With this amendment, there will no longer be a distinction based on the activity risk, giving way to the approval of a common framework for the classification of economic activities, called the Timor-Leste Economic Activities Classification and abbreviated to CAE.
The Government also intends to put an end to the authorisation-type regime currently in force, whose bureaucratic procedures are unnecessary, to guarantee a greater efficiency of the services and true freedom of initiative and business management of the private sector and the cooperative and social sector, as enshrined in Article 138 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.
It is proposed to make the licensing process more predictable, transparent and simple, by consolidating the reform of the licensing of economic activities, which started five years ago, clarifying procedures, shortening timeframes and reducing the burden of opening businesses in the country.
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The Council of Ministers approved the draft Government Resolution, presented by the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Julião da Silva, for the approval of the cooperation agreement between the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and the Portuguese Republic on internal security.
The agreement, signed by both countries on September 27th, 2011, has as its objective the mutual provision of technical cooperation and exchange, through professional training actions and advisory services in the area of internal security.
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The draft Government Resolution, presented by the Vice Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, António Guterres and the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, Abrão Saldanha, on promoting physical activity in public establishments was approved.
To promote physical activity and raise awareness of the population about the importance of physical activity in health and implementation of intersectoral and multidisciplinary policies aimed at reducing sedentary lifestyles, the Government establishes the promotion of physical activity in public administration bodies and services, dedicating a period during the week for the practice of physical activity in its various aspects and modalities.
All public administration bodies and services under the dependence of the Government shall promote the practice of physical activity by the employees who are part of those bodies and services, establishing an appropriate time, not exceeding one hour, on Fridays, between 4:30 pm. and 5:30 pm. This period may be reduced or waived whenever justified by reasons of public interest, namely to ensure the regular functioning of the public administration bodies and services.
The Government also appeals to civil society organizations and private sector companies to join and promote the practice of physical activity by their collaborators and workers for at least 1 hour per week.
This physical activity should not occur on the last Friday of each month, to ensure the organization and implementation of collective actions of general cleaning of the urban areas existing in the national territory, as previously planned.
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The Council of Ministers approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Health, Odete Maria Freitas Belo, on the establishment of the National Institute of Public Health of Timor-Leste (INSP-TL).
It is intended with the establishment of the INSP-TL to aggregate in a single institute the attributions of monitoring, evaluation and analysis of the general health status, collaboration in the epidemiological and health surveillance, scientific research, control of risks and threats to public health, development and training of human resources, research and technological incorporation in public health, as well as quality control in certain health areas.
Within the scope of these attributions, in cooperation/networking with similar institutes in other countries, it is intended to create an organization with a strong scientific base that provides leadership and experience to the efforts made at the national level to achieve substantial and long-term improvements for public health and establishes itself as a reliable source of advice for policy formulation and decision making by policymakers.
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The Council of Ministers decided to authorize the Minister of Finance to start negotiating with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Government of Australia, on the specific conditions of a loan for the Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport development project.
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The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Joaquim Amaral, gave a presentation on the World Trade Organization's agreement on information technology (Information Technology Agreement - ITA) and the status of Timor-Leste's accession process to the WTO. The ITA is a multilateral agreement within the scope of the WTO to reduce to zero all taxes and tariffs on information technology products by the signatories.
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Lastly, the Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes, informed the Council of Ministers that the construction of the Port of Tibar Bay has already reached 92% and that it will start operations on September 30th, thus, from October 1st, the Port of Dili will no longer receive container vessels, transferring this service to the Port of Tibar Bay. The Port of Dili will continue to receive passenger ferries and cruise ships. The official launch of the Port of Tibar Bay will take place on November 30th, to coincide with the celebrations of Timor-Leste's Independence Day. END - 14 of September of 2022Meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 14th, 2022Approvedmore
1 - procurement procedures for international public tenders and the implementation of expenditure for public works concerning the rehabilitation of roads;
2 - proceedings concerning the rehabilitation of the roads; and
3 - Draft of the 2023 General State Budget Law
Analysed
1 - state of play of Timor-Leste's accession process to the ASEAN; and
2 renewable energy implementation project. - 09 of September of 2022Timor-Leste mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth IIThe Government of Timor-Leste was saddened to receive the news of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, this Thursday, September 8th, 2022, at the Balmoral Castle, Scotland, at the age of 96 years.more
Elizabeth II, born on April 21st, 1926, in London, died a few months after celebrating her 70th jubilee of reign, the longest in British history and one of the longest in the world. Charles, her eldest son, succeeded her on the throne and adopted the title of Charles III. - 07 of September of 2022Meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 7th, 2022Approved:more
1 - signing of the agreement between the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, concerning cooperation in the defence area and the status of the Visiting Forces;
2 - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste in the United Kingdom and the double accreditation of the Ambassador of Timor-Leste to the Kingdom of Belgium for France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland and the Czech Republic;
3 - programs to be included in the draft State Budget for 2023;
4 - State's vehicle regulations and for the first amendment to Decree-Law 21/2021, of November 10th, which created the Monthly Transportation Allowance; and
5 - authorizes and approves the rules of the joint operational engagement between F-FDTL and the PNTL.
Analysed:
1 - political-legislative options underlying the initiative to create the National Institute of Public Health of Timor-Leste (INSP-TL Portuguese Acronym); and
2 - Evaluation Report on the Implementation of the second phase of the Strategic Development Plan 2011 - 2030. 
02 of September of 2022Day off on September 6th, 2022 on the occasion of the commemoration of the appointment of Dom Virgílio do Carmo da Silva as the first Timorese CardinalDay off on September 6th, 2022 on the occasion of the commemoration of the appointment of Dom Virgílio do Carmo da Silva as the first Timorese Cardinalmore
