Media Releases
- 23 of August of 2019Meeting of the Council of Ministers of August 23, 2019Presidency of the Council of Ministersmore
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers of August 23, 2019
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and heard a presentation by the Minister of Legislative Reform and Parliamentary Affairs, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, concerning the Public Administration Reform Program. This program is part of a group of four major institutional reforms (Reform of the Public Administration, Reform of Fiscal and Financial Management, Reform of Decentralization and Legal and Judicial Reform) to be undertaken and which aims to transform and modernise the Public administration, making it more competent, innovative, responsive and transparent, public and result-oriented. The Public Administration Reform Program is organized into five components: provision of services; incentives and accountability; management and human resources development; rationalization of structures and functions; and improvement of the business environment.
The Minister of Education Youth and Sports, Dulce de Jesus Soares, held a presentation to the Council of Ministers on the Project PRO-Português, a partnership between this Ministry and INFORDEPE and Camões, the Institute of Cooperation and Language. This project aims to contribute to the consolidation of the educational system of Timor-Leste through support to professional and continuous training of teaching staff of the non-tertiary education system. This program will replace the program Formar+, which ended in December 31, 2018 and will run between 2019 and 2022. The PRO-Português project, with the realization of encompasses 520 training hours for an average of 4,300 teachers per year, during the three years of the project, aiming to ensure all teachers of the national education system reach a B2 level of linguistic proficiency in Portuguese language by the end of 2022.
The Council of Ministers also heard the presentation of the Minister of Defense, Filomeno da Paixão de Jesus and representatives of the companies Damen Shipyards and Pan Union Corporation regarding the presentation of Proposals for the acquisition of marine patrol boats and other naval equipment in order to ensure effective patrolling of the national coastal areas and to respond to emergencies and disasters.
The Acting Minister of Finance, Sara Lobo Brites, presented the proposal for a Decree-law, approved by the Council of Ministers, concerning the First Amendment to the organic structure of the Customs Authority. This amendment aims, given the complexity of the duties performed by the customs authority, to make some adjustments that allow the administration to respond more transparently to the challenges it faces daily. This way, the structure and attributions of some of the central services of the customs authority are amended in order to restructure and reformulate their tasks and competences so as to better respond to the needs and ensure the effective and efficient provision of services to citizens. This diploma adds to the structure of the Customs Authority the services of planning and finance, logistics and asset management and maintenance, administration and human resources, as well as the unit of appeal. The designation of the maximum director of the customs authority, which is renamed Commissioner, is also amended.
The Acting Minister of Finance also presented the proposal for a Decree-law, approved by the Council of Ministers, concerning the First Amendment to the organic structure of the Tax Authority. Through this diploma, the structure and attributions of the central services of the Tax Authority. It also amends the services of declaration and liquidation, anti-fraud management, return and reimbursement of value added tax, management of procurement and contracts, information systems and taxpayer registration, international tax relations, communication and public relations as well as the contractor and subcontractor of petroleum and mineral tax inspection.
The Acting Minister of Petroleum and Minerals, Agio Pereira, presented the proposal for a Government resolution concerning the appointment of the official forwarder for the import and export activities related to the Bayu-Undan field. Given that with the signing of the Timor Sea Treaty one of the projects that will be transiting from the current joint Petroleum Development Area to the exclusive jurisdiction of Timor-Leste is the Bayu-UndanProject, this Government resolution aims to maintain the company Altus Oil & Gas Services as the official forwarder in order to minimize disruption to ongoing operations, as required by international obligations assumed by the state of Timor-Leste under the Treaty. The proposal will continue to be analyzed and will be subject to approval at a later meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The Council of Ministers decided to grant tolerance days off between the afternoon of August 26th to August 29th, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the Popular consultation and the mission of INTERFET, for all the officials and agents of the Ministries and Dependent services, as well as of the institutes and bodies integrated in the indirect administration of the State, to allow maximum participation in the commemoration activities. ENDS - 16 of August of 2019Day-off on the Occasion of the Day of FALINTILPresidency of the Council of Ministersmore
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Day-off on the Occasion of the Day of FALINTIL
The Government has decided to grant a tolerance day-off on August 20, 2019 to all officials and agents of the Ministries or services under their dependency, as well as of the institutes and bodies integrated in the indirect administration of the State.This decision is based on the Law n. º 10/2005, of August 10, which establishes the days that are national holidays, the official commemorative dates and tolerance days-off.With regard to the official commemorative dates set out in article 5, it provides in paragraph 3 which may be subject to tolerance days-off.Among the official commemorative dates, the law establishes August 20 as the official commemorative date of the day of the Armed Forces of National liberation of Timor-Leste (FALINTIL), which this year commemorate their 44th anniversary. END
- 14 of August of 2019Meeting of the Council of Ministers of August 14, 2019Presidency of the Council of Ministersmore
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers of August 14, 2019
available soon - 09 of August of 2019Day Off on the 12th of August of 2019Presidency of the Council of Ministersmore
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Day Off on the 12th of August of 2019
Law no. 10/2005, of August 10, in the wording defined by Law no. 3/2016, of May 25, establishes the days that are national holidays, the official commemorative dates and the other circumstances in which tolerance days-off may be granted.
Thus, considering the provision in paragraph c) of nº 2 of article 7, and in paragraph d) of nº 6 of that article, the Government decided to grant a tolerance day-off next Monday, August 12, on the occasion of the commemoration of Idul Adha, for all officials and agents of the Ministries or services under their dependency, as well as of the institutes and bodies integrated in the indirect administration of the State.
Idul Adha, also called the "Sacrifice Feast" or "Bakr-Eid", is a celebration which commemorates the sacrifice of Abraham, and marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage. It is celebrated from the 10th day of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah (last month of the lunar year in the Islamic calendar) ENDS 
07 of August of 2019Meeting of the Council of Ministers of August 7, 2019Presidency of the Council of Ministersmore
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers of August 7, 2019
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and heard a presentation by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, concerning the first "census on progress in the national agricultural sector”. The "Agricultural Census" aims to collect data from the agriculture sector to define a policy and strategy for the sector, to support the national Agriculture Program of the Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030, to develop the indicator of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) - Zero hunger and sustainable agriculture, provide statistical data on the sector at the administrative level of juice and provide a framework of the national agricultural sector. The data collection will take place from August 12 to October 12, 2019. The final report will be released in April 2020 and the results will be disseminated at the municipal level between May and June 2020. The "Agricultural Census" team includes 1 292 interviewers, 646 GPS operators and 646 supervisors, for a total of 2 584 people from all over the country, of which 36.8% are women.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Dionísio da Costa Babo Soares, presented to the Council of Ministers the progress report on the accession process of Timor-Leste to ASEAN. The accession of Timor-Leste is considered a priority in the context of foreign policy and will represent a positive impact on national development, with significant economic and social benefits. The year 2019 should be decisive for a positive assessment of Timor-Leste's capacity to comply with the requirements of the three pillars of ASEAN, and consequently accession as a Member State. After the visit of the largest ever delegation of Timor-Leste to the ASEAN secretariat, between the 22nd and the 24th of July 2019, Timor-Leste will receive the exploratory mission of ASEAN, between the 3rd and the 7th of September, representing the activity with the most impact in Timor-Leste's accession process, since the formal submission of the application in 2011.
The Acting Minister of Finance, Sara Lobo Brites, presented the proposal for Decree-Law on the First Amendment to the organic structure of the customs authority. This amendment aims, given the complexity of the duties performed by the customs authority, to make some adjustments that allow the administration to respond more transparently to the challenges it faces daily. In this way, the structure and attributions of some of the central services of the customs authority are amended to restructure and reformulate their tasks and competences in order to better respond to the needs and ensure the effective and efficient provision of services to citizens. The present diploma adds to the structure of the customs authority the services of planning and finance, logistics and asset management and maintenance, administration and human resources, as well as the unit of appeal. The designation of the maximum director of the customs authority, which is renamed Commissioner, is also amended. This proposal will again be analyzed at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers, awaiting the opinion of the Civil Service Commission.
The Acting Minister of Finance also presented the proposal of Decree-law, concerning the First Amendment to the organic structure of the Tax Authority. The present diploma shall amend the structure and attributions of the central services of the Tax Authority, the services of declaration and liquidation, anti-fraud management, return and reimbursement of value added tax, management of procurement and contracts, information systems and taxpayer registration, international tax relations, communication and public relations and contracting and subcontractor of petroleum tax inspection and mineral tax inspection. This proposal will again be analyzed at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers, awaiting the opinion of the Civil Service Commission. ENDS- 05 of August of 2019National Holiday on the Occasion of the Celebration of Idul Adha 2019Presidency of the Council of Ministersmore
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
National Holiday on the Occasion of the Celebration of Idul Adha - 02 of August of 2019Timor-Leste Welcomes the Statement from the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Recognising Progress to ASEAN AccessionPresidency of the Council of Ministersmore
Eighth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Timor-Leste Welcomes the Statement from the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Recognising Progress to ASEAN Accession
Timor-Leste, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, welcomes the Joint Communiqué of the 52nd ASEAN Foreign Minister’s Meeting on 31 July 2019 in Bangkok.
Timor-Leste wishes to thank the ASEAN Member States – especially Thailand – for the warm hospitality during our delegation’s visit to Bangkok and recognises that the outcome of the meeting continues to build clear momentum towards our accession to ASEAN.
As confirmed in the Joint Communiqué, Timor-Leste looks forward to receiving the Political-Security Fact-Finding Mission on Timor-Leste's Preparedness to Accede to ASEAN in early September.
The Government of Timor-Leste remains strongly committed to achieving a smooth ASEAN accession, and will continue to build on the great strides towards technical preparedness over coming months. ENDS
31 of July of 2019Meeting of the Council of Ministers of July 31, 2019Approved:more
1 - Decree-Law on the Organic of the Ministry of Finance
2 - Fiscal ceiling and national priorities for the General State Budget (OGE) for 2020;
3 - Memorandum of Understanding between the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and the Republic of Indonesia, on customs cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters; and
4 - Names to be awarded the "Order of Timor-Leste" on the occasion of the celebrations of the 20th Anniversary of the Popular Consultation
