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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 2, 2020
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the Deliberation draft, presented by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs Sara Lobo Brites, regarding to the final ceiling for the temporary budget allocation for September 2020, which value was set at USD 119.6 million (including the payment of loans).
The Government approved the Deliberation draft, also presented by the Deputy Minister of Finance, on the 2021 General State Budget aggregate and disaggregate ceilings, with an aggregate ceiling total amount of $ 1.6 billion to cover the program and national priorities needs, defined by the VIII Constitutional Government, namely in terms of social capital development, economic development, in line with the measures included in the Economic Recovery Plan, the development of basic fundamental infrastructures, environmental development, institutional development and ongoing institutional reform processes.
The Council of Ministers approved the Deliberation draft, presented by the Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, on accession to the Scalling Up Nutrition “Sun Movement”. This “movement” was created in September 2010, by government entities, agencies and groups, founded on the principle that everyone has the right to food and adequate nutrition. Currently, it has sixty-one member countries, looking to work together to find truly transformative methods and solve the nutrition problems in their countries. Timor-Leste’s accession to the SUN Movement may contribute to improve the country’s visibility, allowing to share the challenges related to malnutrition in Timor-Leste and learning from successful cases in improving nutrition, as well as joining a network agencies, institutions and donors, making a decisive contribution to improve the health and well-being of the population in Timor-Leste.
The Minister of Justice, Manuel Cárceres da Costa, presented to the Council of Ministers the political legislative options related to the draft Law Proposal for the Organization and Functioning of Courts, the draft Law Proposal for the Legal Regime for Professional Public Associations, the draft Law Proposal that creates the Bar Association and the draft Law Proposal of the New Statute of the Public Ministry.
The Law Proposal for the Organization and Functioning of Courts intends to create legal conditions for the full implementation of the Constitution, regarding the higher courts organization and functioning and the administrative and fiscal jurisdiction, and it also aims to consolidate the legislation dispersed in various legal diplomas, allowing a joint view of the country’s judicial organization.
The Legal Regime for Professional Public Associations aims to ensure that the solutions approved for each of the regulated professions are consistent with each other, that they obey certain structural principles, that the same legal solutions are not multiplied in different diplomas, that the normative framework is established given the creation of the Bar Association, but also the future creation of other professional orders or chambers and, finally, that the confidence in the technical and ethical quality of the professionals of Timor-Leste will be reinforced, in respect for the Constitution and national sovereignty.
The creation of the Bar Association aims to stimulate the lawyer activity regulation and the exercise of disciplinary action, to supervise the training contents for the professional internship courses towards the specific needs that the class identifies, to provide Timor-Leste with a similar institution to its counterparts in all other CPLP countries and to reinforce confidence in the technical and ethical quality of Timor-Leste lawyers, in respect for the Constitution and national sovereignty.
With a new Statute of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, it is intended to reinforce the autonomy and independence of this magistracy, more fully describing various aspects that govern their career, adapting the services of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to the present, allowing their specialization in certain types of crime or certain areas of action, and its decentralization and expanding the access to the top of the career, according to professional merit criteria.
The Council of Minister approved the draft Government Resolution, presented by the Minister of Transports and Communications, José Agustinho da Silva, regarding the appointment of the Board of Director of Aeroportos e Navegação Aérea de Timor-Leste, EP (ANATL) members, for the period from 2020 to 2024. José Trindade da Cruz Pinto was appointed to the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the public company responsible for the management and administration of the public airport and air navigation service to support civil aviation in Timor-Leste. Lurdes Gomes and Eusébio da Costa Lopes were appointed for the positions of members of the ANATL Board of Directors, on the proposal of the Ministry of Transports and Communications, Veríssimo Nai Sai, on the proposal of the Ministry of Finance and José de Oliveira Leong, on the proposal of workers.
The draft Government Resolution, presented by the Minister of Transports and Communications, on the appointment of the Board of Directors of the Civil Aviation Authority of Timor-Leste (AACTL) members for the period from 2020 to 2024, and the dismissal of previous Board of Directors members, was also approved.
Eusébio Freitas has been appointed as Chairman of the organisation Administrative Board, whose mission is to ensure the safety of the air transport system. For the position of AACTL Board of Directors members, have been appointed Domingos Savio de Jesus Sarmento, on a proposal from the Ministry of Transports and Communications and Geovanio M.R. Hei Henriques, on a proposal of the Ministry of Finance.
The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Joaquim Amaral, presented, to the Council of Ministers, the political-legislative options to regulate the implementation of the Support Measures for the Resumption and Maintenance of Activity and Support to local families and producers (“basic food basket”) under the Economic Recovery Plan, already set out in the Government Resolution no. 28/2020, of 19th August, which approved the Short-Term Measures for Mitigating the Impacts of the Economic Crisis caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, under the Economic Recovery Plan.
The Council of Ministers attended a presentation by the Board of Directors of the National Commercial Bank of Timor-Leste (BNCTL), regarding a proposal for capitalisation through government funding, for the period from 2020 to 2022. This capitalisation aims to be a lever for a significant increase in the credits granting until 2022, to support the modernisation of the bank’s infrastructure and to raise the human resources’ capabilities, in order to increase the number of clients, improve the services provided quality and to be the main commercial bank in the country. BNCTL officials also point to a 50% return from the amount injected by the State. BNCTL representatives also presented a comparative analysis with other private banks, the deposit and credit growth, from 2011 to the present date, and the strategic plan up to 2022. BNCTL is a public limited company with exclusively public capital, which has the State as sole shareholder and its purpose is to provide banking and financial services to reducing poverty and aiding the development of economic activities throughout the national territory, providing access to financial services to the population and to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises both in urban and rural areas.
Lastly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Mrs Adaljiza Albertina Xavier Reis Magno, gave a presentation to the Council of Ministers on the current situation of Timor-Leste’s accession process to ASEAN. This presentation is part of the preparation for the second round of meetings with the ASEAN Fact-finding Mission, which is scheduled to take place between 8th and 10th September, by videoconference. The main goals achieved since the formal submission of the application for ASEAN membership in 2011, national strategy for the membership process and recent key achievements were also presented. END