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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers of July 3, 2019
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and heard a presentation by the World Bank on the structure of the partnership with Timor-Leste and on the proposal for a tourism development strategy in Timor-Leste, in a partnership between Government and the World Bank. The tourism development strategy is based on four main steps: market analysis; estimation of the economic benefits of tourism spending; estimation of public investment costs and comparison of costs and benefits; and calculation of the rate of return. In order to achieve the national tourism goals, through integrated planning, the priority and strategic areas of tourism will be identified through a participatory process, which includes strategies for the management and preservation of natural and cultural resources. It is also intended to increase the professionalism of human resources, encourage tourism entrepreneurship, develop skills and promote the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in the targeted communities as well as the development of infrastructure for strategic destinations and tourism products, in order to guarantee access to these locations based on technical concerns, but also concerns about environmental and social impacts. The tourism development proposal will continue to be analyzed by the Interministerial Commission for Tourism Development, which is responsible for promoting the preparation of the Tourism Master Plan, analyzing the necessary legislative initiatives and promoting interdepartmental articulation in the implementation and execution of the Tourism Master Plan.
The Deputy Minister for Strategic Health Development, Bonifácio Maukoli dos Reis, gave a presentation on the construction of the pediatrics and intensive care unit of the Guido Valadares National Hospital (HNGV). The new hospital block will have five floors and an area of about four thousand square meters. It will enable the provision of facilities tailored to the needs of the increasing number of HNGV patients, promoting the improvement of the quality of health care delivery in the country.
The Council of Ministers also heard a presentation by the Minister of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, Armanda Berta dos Santos, on the signing of the Multilateral Social Security Convention of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), agreed at the meeting of Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs Committee of the CPLP in Dili on 24 July 2015. Timor-Leste did not sign this convention at that time as the country has it had yet to establish its own social security system. The Convention is an International Agreement whose purpose is to protect workers in each of the signatory countries who are working abroad, allowing the time worked to be accounted for irrespective of the country where the worker worked during his or her active life, in order to avoid the loss of time in the contributory career scheme and also benefit the count for the terms of guarantee of access to social benefits covered by the Convention (protection in disability, old age and death). The Convention was recently signed in Portugal by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Dionisio Babo Soares.
The Minister of Transport and Communications, José Agustinho da Silva, presented the proposal for a Decree-Law, approved by the Council of Ministers, on the Legal Regime of Aerodrome Certification. This legal regime is in line with the international legal framework and establishes the conditions for the construction, certification and operation of national civil aerodromes and establishes the operational, administrative, safety and facilitation requirements to be applied in these infrastructures.
The Council of Ministers also approved the proposal for a Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Transport and Communications, on the Prevention and Investigation of Accidents and Incidents with Aircraft, which establishes the principles governing the investigation of accidents and incidents with aircraft registered in Timor-Leste or occurring on national territory or in the airspace under the jurisdiction of Timor-Leste and which also establishes the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Incidents.
Finally, the Minister for National Liberation Combatants, Gil da Costa Monteiro “Oan Soru”, presented the proposal for a Decree-Law, approved by the Council of Ministers, regarding the first amendment to Decree-Law No. 8/2009, of January 15, on the Scheme for the Granting of Scholarships to Children of Combatants and Martyrs of the National Liberation. This amendment aims to guarantee equal access in the granting of scholarships among the children of National Liberation Combatants. ENDS