Meeting of the Council of Ministers on July 13th, 2022
Presidency of the Council of Ministers
Eighth Constitutional Government
.............................................................................................................................
Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on July 13th, 2022
The Council of Ministers met, at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Defence, Filomeno da Paixão de Jesus, referring to the Organic Statute of the Falintil Unit, establishing its structure and attributions. The Falintil Unit, integrated into the central structure of FALINTIL-Forças de Defesa de Timor-Leste (Timor-Leste Defence Forces), is a Special Operations Unit. Its main mission is to train military personnel in the specific area of special operations and to prepare a Special Operations Force, of reduced manpower, specially organized and composed of specially selected, trained and equipped personnel, to operate under physically and psychologically demanding conditions in the fulfilment of missions that require non-conventional techniques and ways of operation.
The draft Decree-Law presented by the Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, José Lucas do Carmo da Silva, for the creation of the public limited liability company GESPIN - Gestão de Parques Industriais, SA, was approved. To promote private initiative activity in the industrial sector, the Government intends to create this public limited company, which will be responsible for promoting, installing and managing industrial parks.
Also approved was the draft Government Resolution presented by the Vice-Prime Minister, and Minister of Planning and Territory, José Maria dos Reis, which aims to create the Interministerial Coordinating Commission for the Establishment of the Timor-Leste Engineering Laboratory, with the responsibility to present to the Council of Ministers, within three months, the Master Plan for the establishment of the Timor-Leste Engineering Laboratory. The commission, chaired by the Vice-Prime Minister, also comprises the Minister of Public Works and the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Culture.
The Council of Ministers approved the draft Government Resolution, presented by the Minister of State Administration, Miguel Pereira de Carvalho, concerning the mission to support the voter registration process in Guinea-Bissau. The approved Government Resolution appoints Lino de Jesus Torrezão as the Timor-Leste Government’s Special Representative with the Government of Guinea-Bissau to proceed with the identification of the needs of this State for the accomplishment of free and fair elections, next December 18th, 2022.
The Council of Ministers has authorised the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries to sign a memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia, to expand the existing framework of bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector, including the technical and scientific areas.
The Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, José Lucas do Carmo da Silva, was authorised by the Council of Ministers to sign two memorandums of understanding with the Government of Indonesia, one in the area of trade and the other on standardization, conformity assessment and metrology.
The Council of Ministers also authorized the Minister of Transport and Communications, José Agustinho da Silva, to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Indonesia on the Cross Border Movement of Commercial Buses. This memorandum aims to support cross-border trade and cooperation between the two countries, allowing for the promotion, development and strengthening of trade, investment, tourism and cultural interchange between the two countries, through the establishment of an integrated and efficient transport system that is capable of encouraging economic growth and development in Timor-Leste, but also with benefits to Indonesia.
The Minister of Transport and Communications was also authorized to sign a memorandum of understanding between his ministry and the Agency of Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics of the Republic of Indonesia on cooperation in the field of meteorology, climatology and geophysics. The partnership foreseen in this memorandum aims to support the development of meteorology, climatology, and geophysics, an essential sector for Timor-Leste, namely in areas such as the calibration of meteorological and seismological equipment and the training of human resources.
The Council of Ministers also authorized the Minister of Transport and Communications to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Republic of Indonesia for cooperation in the area of communications and information technology. The expansion and improvement of the communications and information technology sector imply collaboration with other countries so that proactively and assertively both may increase the effectiveness of their internal and external performance and in this sense, it becomes necessary to establish bases for bilateral coordination and cooperation in the communications and information technology sector.
The Council of Ministers approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Culture, Longuinhos dos Santos, on the support measures for the movement of Timorese students attending higher education abroad to return to Timor-Leste or to go abroad in the occurrence of situations of a pandemic, epidemic, natural disaster or catastrophe, serious illness or armed conflict. With the approval of this diploma, in the event of the occurrence of the referred situations, the State will facilitate the necessary trips for the return to Timor-Leste of students, of Timorese nationality, who are actively attending higher education abroad in accredited higher education institutions, or their departure for the final destination of their higher education studies. The State will pay for the travel by air, sea or road transportation of the student during his or her return to or departure from Timor-Leste, and also for accommodation or temporary stay due to evacuations, quarantine or medical or hospital treatment.
The Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes, has received authorisation to sign a project agreement with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOIKA), for the development of the project "YEES - Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship Skills". Under this memorandum the Republic of Korea will make a financial contribution of six million two hundred thousand dollars, to fund the development of youth in obtaining skills, competencies and knowledge to be employed, offer services available to provide holistic support in increasing employability and help youth start or expand their businesses. The project will run for six years from 2022 to 2027 and will be implemented in four municipalities, Dili, Baucau, Ermera and Liquica.
The Council of Ministers approved the draft Decree-Law amending the Organic Law of the National Police of Timor-Leste. This draft Decree-Law had already been subject to deliberation in the meeting of the Council of Ministers on May 25th 2022, however, due to the introduction of some changes in the final wording phase, it became necessary to submit it to a new deliberation.
The draft Decree-Law for the second amendment to Decree-Law No. 26/2021, of November 26th, as amended by Decree-Law No. 12/2022, of March 17th, on exceptional and temporary measures for health surveillance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic disease, was also approved. With this amendment, the exceptional measures are extended until November 13th, 2022.
Lastly, the Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, José Lucas do Carmo da Silva, as the National Authority for Expo Dubai 2020 (ANED-TL) and the General Coordinator for Expo Dubai 2020, Manuel Vong, made a presentation to the Council of Ministers on the results of Timor-Leste participation in Dubai Expo 2020. Timor-Leste pavilion, in the first world exposition taking place in the Middle East, was visited by more than 340 thousand people, between October 1st and March 31st 2022. During this period, several marketing and promotion actions were carried out to promote investment in Timor-Leste, in the areas of tourism and hospitality, agriculture and fisheries, connectivity, logistics and transport and oil, gas and minerals. There were also lectures and meetings with middle eastern rulers and private sector representatives. During the event, an air services agreement was also signed with the Government of the United Arab Emirates. END
