Meeting of the Council of Ministers on November 4th, 2022
Presidency of the Council of Ministers
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on November 4th, 2022
The Council of Ministers met, at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes, for the First Amendment to Decree-Law No. 14/2017, of April 5th, regarding the Customs Code.
This legislative amendment aims to comply with a necessary condition for the conclusion of the accession process to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to align the Customs Code with the legal framework governing the WTO and its members, thereby ensuring the comparability and predictability of the interpretation and application of national legislation, stimulating trade and reducing the respective context costs.
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The draft Government Resolution, also presented by the Minister of Finance, to create the working group for the regularization of payments under contracts was approved.
This working group will have the mission to identify contracts where the price has been invoiced but the payment has not yet been completed. After identifying the causes and amounts to be paid, it will study the possibility of regularizing the payments and propose, within 60 days, a legislative solution to enable their regularization.
The working group is chaired by a representative of the Government member responsible for the area of planning and territory and is also comprised of representatives of each member of the Government sitting on the Board of Directors of the Infrastructure Fund and other members of the Government with responsibilities in the area. If the working group deems it necessary, representatives from other public entities may be invited to participate in the activities.
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The Council of Ministers, following the project presented by the Minister of Public Works, Abel Pires da Silva, decided to authorize the procurement procedure of International Public Tender type and respective multi-annual expenditure for the public works project for the construction of the new metallic arch structure bridge in Comoro Mota Ulun (Casnafar), with an estimated amount of US$ 8.9 million.
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After analysing the project presented by the Minister of Transport and Communications, José Agostinho da Silva, the Council of Ministers also decided to authorize the opening of a procurement procedure of International Public Tender type for the award of a public contract for the supply of goods and execution of works on the creation of the communications complex with the installation of the landing station for the fibre optic submarine cable, which will connect the Dili city in Timor-Leste to the Darwin and Port Hedland cities in the Commonwealth of Australia, with an estimated value of US$ 6.6 million.
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The Council of Ministers also approved the draft Law Proposal, presented by the Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, aiming at renewing the exceptional and temporary measures of health surveillance in response to the COVID-19 disease pandemic, extending the validity of article 3 of Law no. 24/2021, of November 19th. With this amendment, the exceptional measures will be extended for a period of 120 days.
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This was followed by three presentations made by the Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, concerning:
1. The political legislative options underlying the initiative to create the Staff Regulations of the National Intelligence Service (SNI).
The political and legislative options presented are intended to provide the SNI with the respective Staff Regulations, clarify the range of options regarding the modalities of human resources recruitment and increase staff motivation, both through professional development opportunities and also in terms of remuneration.
2. The Nutritional security and implications for children’s cognitive development.
The main causes and consequences of malnutrition on children’s development were presented, as well as an analysis of the measures already carried out and the priority recommendations for intervention.
3. The political-legislative options underlying the initiative to create a Mission Unit to Combat Stunting.
Stunting is related to the phenomenon of lower physical and cognitive development of individuals who have been exposed to prolonged situations of malnutrition. Its consequences are felt throughout the individual’s life, both in terms of his/her health and in terms of His/her ability to enter the labour market.
The establishment of a Mission Unit to Combat Stunting is foreseen, under the Prime Minister, given the multidisciplinary and multisectoral nature of the actions that will have to be undertaken. This unit will be responsible for drafting an Action Plan to Combat Stunting in Timor-Leste, as well as for the implementation of the measures that are foreseen therein.
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Lastly, the Minister of Presidency of the Council of Ministers presented the political and legislative options underlying the initiative to create the Millennium Challenge Account-Timor-Leste Public Institute (MCA-TL). This public institute will act as an instrument for implementing the funding to be provided by the US Government agency Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) under the compact agreement signed on July 19th, being responsible for managing the funding and coordinating the implementation to be promoted through national bodies. The implementation of the projects will be the responsibility of the Government, through the national entities, according to their respective competencies. END
