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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers of August 23, 2019
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and heard a presentation by the Minister of Legislative Reform and Parliamentary Affairs, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, concerning the Public Administration Reform Program. This program is part of a group of four major institutional reforms (Reform of the Public Administration, Reform of Fiscal and Financial Management, Reform of Decentralization and Legal and Judicial Reform) to be undertaken and which aims to transform and modernise the Public administration, making it more competent, innovative, responsive and transparent, public and result-oriented. The Public Administration Reform Program is organized into five components: provision of services; incentives and accountability; management and human resources development; rationalization of structures and functions; and improvement of the business environment.
The Minister of Education Youth and Sports, Dulce de Jesus Soares, held a presentation to the Council of Ministers on the Project PRO-Português, a partnership between this Ministry and INFORDEPE and Camões, the Institute of Cooperation and Language. This project aims to contribute to the consolidation of the educational system of Timor-Leste through support to professional and continuous training of teaching staff of the non-tertiary education system. This program will replace the program Formar+, which ended in December 31, 2018 and will run between 2019 and 2022. The PRO-Português project, with the realization of encompasses 520 training hours for an average of 4,300 teachers per year, during the three years of the project, aiming to ensure all teachers of the national education system reach a B2 level of linguistic proficiency in Portuguese language by the end of 2022.
The Council of Ministers also heard the presentation of the Minister of Defense, Filomeno da Paixão de Jesus and representatives of the companies Damen Shipyards and Pan Union Corporation regarding the presentation of Proposals for the acquisition of marine patrol boats and other naval equipment in order to ensure effective patrolling of the national coastal areas and to respond to emergencies and disasters.
The Acting Minister of Finance, Sara Lobo Brites, presented the proposal for a Decree-law, approved by the Council of Ministers, concerning the First Amendment to the organic structure of the Customs Authority. This amendment aims, given the complexity of the duties performed by the customs authority, to make some adjustments that allow the administration to respond more transparently to the challenges it faces daily. This way, the structure and attributions of some of the central services of the customs authority are amended in order to restructure and reformulate their tasks and competences so as to better respond to the needs and ensure the effective and efficient provision of services to citizens. This diploma adds to the structure of the Customs Authority the services of planning and finance, logistics and asset management and maintenance, administration and human resources, as well as the unit of appeal. The designation of the maximum director of the customs authority, which is renamed Commissioner, is also amended.
The Acting Minister of Finance also presented the proposal for a Decree-law, approved by the Council of Ministers, concerning the First Amendment to the organic structure of the Tax Authority. Through this diploma, the structure and attributions of the central services of the Tax Authority. It also amends the services of declaration and liquidation, anti-fraud management, return and reimbursement of value added tax, management of procurement and contracts, information systems and taxpayer registration, international tax relations, communication and public relations as well as the contractor and subcontractor of petroleum and mineral tax inspection.
The Acting Minister of Petroleum and Minerals, Agio Pereira, presented the proposal for a Government resolution concerning the appointment of the official forwarder for the import and export activities related to the Bayu-Undan field. Given that with the signing of the Timor Sea Treaty one of the projects that will be transiting from the current joint Petroleum Development Area to the exclusive jurisdiction of Timor-Leste is the Bayu-UndanProject, this Government resolution aims to maintain the company Altus Oil & Gas Services as the official forwarder in order to minimize disruption to ongoing operations, as required by international obligations assumed by the state of Timor-Leste under the Treaty. The proposal will continue to be analyzed and will be subject to approval at a later meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The Council of Ministers decided to grant tolerance days off between the afternoon of August 26th to August 29th, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the Popular consultation and the mission of INTERFET, for all the officials and agents of the Ministries and Dependent services, as well as of the institutes and bodies integrated in the indirect administration of the State, to allow maximum participation in the commemoration activities. ENDS