Meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 21st, 2022
Presidency of the Council of Ministers
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
