Meeting of the Council of Ministers on November 23rd, 2022

Presidency of the Council of Ministers

Eighth Constitutional Government

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Press Release

Meeting of the Council of Ministers on November 23rd, 2022

The Council of Ministers met, at the Central Administration Building, in Atauro Municipality, and approved the Law Proposal, presented by the Minister of Defence, Filomeno da Paixão de Jesus, on the Military Programming Law.

The purpose of this Law Proposal is to the budgetary framework for public expenditure on equipment and armament, with a direct impact on the development of the military capabilities required to sustain the National Force System and to fulfil the missions assigned to the F-FDTL.

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The draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, José Lucas do Carmo da Silva, on the General Regime of Rules of Origin, was approved.

This diploma is intended to endow the national legal system with a general regime of rules of origin that, respecting the existing customs legislation, defines the general principles of the rules of origin, establishes a general procedure for the issuing of certificates of origin and creates the necessary bodies for the international harmonization of the Rules of Origin, establishing the bases for the signing of international agreements and/or treaties on rules of origin that serve the economic development interests of Timor-Leste.

The Council of Ministers approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, regarding the appointment and remuneration of members of the bodies of the legal persons that integrate the indirect administration of the State.

The Decree-Law defines four remuneration brackets, according to the average budgeted expenditure over the last five years of the respective public legal persons and annually, until January 31st, the Council of Ministers, through a Government Resolution, determines, for that year, the bracket of the public legal persons covered by this Decree-Law.

1. The remuneration of the holders of the bodies of legal persons with an average expenditure equal to or higher than US$ 10 million consists of the amount corresponding to 90% of the Prime Minister's remuneration;

2. The remuneration of the holders of the bodies of legal persons with an average expenditure equal to or higher than US$ 5 million consists of the amount corresponding to 80% of the Prime Minister's remuneration;

3. The remuneration of the holders of the bodies of legal persons with an average expenditure equal to or higher than US$ 1 million consists of the amount corresponding to 70% of the Prime Minister's remuneration; and

4. The remuneration of the holders of the bodies of legal persons with an average expenditure of less than US$ 1 million consists of the amount corresponding to 60% of the Prime Minister's remuneration.

Given the level of responsibilities, the degree of complexity and demand of the tasks inherent to the position, the current market values in the same sector of activity, the technical competence and the academic and professional curriculum of the appointee, the remuneration of the management bodies of public companies may be higher than the aforementioned values, never exceeding, however, the value of the legally established remuneration for the President of the Republic.

The provisions of the present Decree-Law shall apply only to the holders of bodies appointed after it comes into force, including cases in which the appointment has the effect of renewing or reappointing them for terms of office or positions previously held.

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Also presented by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Decree-Law for the establishment of the Millennium Challenge Account-Timor-Leste Public Institute and the approval of its respective Statutes was also approved.

This public institute, under the supervision of the Prime Minister, will act as an instrument of implementation of the funding to be donated by the U.S. government agency Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), under the compact agreement signed last July 19th, being responsible for managing the funding and coordinating the implementation to be promoted through national entities. Project implementation will be the responsibility of the Government, through the national entities, following their respective competencies.

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This was followed by two presentations by the Minister of State Administration, Miguel Pereira de Carvalho, regarding the underlying political-legislative options:

» to the initiative to amend Law 11/2009, of October 7th, on the Administrative Division of the Territory.

This legislative intervention intends to divide the Administrative Post of Maubara into two Administrative Posts (Maubara and Loes) and to divide the Administrative Post of Baucau into three Administrative Posts (Quelicai, Quelicai Antigo, and Matebian).

» to the initiative to amend Law 6/2006, of December 28th, which approves the Electoral Law for the National Parliament.

The purpose of this project is to incorporate in the Electoral Law for the National Parliament the necessary amendments to solve the difficulties that Timorese citizens abroad face in exercising their right to vote, whether because they are still registered to vote in the national territory, or because of difficulties in accessing the voting centres. END

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