Timor-Leste presided to the Conference of Ministers of Justice of CPLP
The Minister of Justice of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Ivo Valente, presided to the 14th Conference of Ministers of Justice of Portuguese-speaking Countries, during two days (22nd and 23rd of June, 2015), at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MFAC), in Dili.
The main theme of the conference was “Land ownership as development factor”, a very important theme, that CPLP countries will develop together with their respective communities.
The conference started with the presentation of the results from the works of the Organizing Committee of the previous conference, held in Maputo, which had as its main theme the Fight on Human Trafficking and the Prevention and the Fight on Corruption in International Commercial Transactions.
At the conference, the Minister of Justice heard about the experiences regarding the national land register system, presented by the Portuguese speaking countries. Timor-Leste also examined this subject, through the voice of the National Director for Land, Property and Land Register Services, Romão Guterres.
Ivo Valente explained: "The reason that led Timor-Leste to propose the theme of ownership as a factor of development was the experience of the country; since the restoration of independence in 2002, there were many people interested in investing, particularly international investors. However, the concern of the majority of them relates to the lack of legislation on Land and Property. Thus, it is important to hear of experiences told by other CPLP countries, particularly those in which the difficulties were overcome after the end of the Portuguese colonization."
The Justice Minister said that "Timor-Leste is going to have to learn a lot with its sister countries. They have gone through the same experience as us. We have a history a little different from theirs, but we must learn to make comparisons and to distinguish between methods to improve the law proposals that will apply in the future."
The Conference of the Ministers of Justice of Portuguese-speaking Countries decided in this assembly that the Minister of Justice of Timor-Leste, Ivo Valente, would be President and National Director of Legal Advisory and Legislation (acronym in Portuguese: DNAJL) of the General Secretariat, for two years (2015 to 2017).
At the opening of the conference, made by the Prime Minister, Rui Maria de Araújo, were present some members of Government.
