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Dili, July 19th, 2016
Press Release
Council of Ministers’ meeting of July 19th, 2016
The Council of Ministers met this Tuesday at the Government Palace in Dili, and approved the Government Resolution on the priority actions to improve the human resources management in the Education Sector. The Government Programme provides for the establishment of school management mechanisms, to promote high-quality education. The Statute of the Teaching Career, approved in 2010, represented a major step forward and resulted in an improvement in the quality of education. However, challenges remained, which this diploma aims to overcome.
The main measures in this resolution relate to the strengthening of human resources management in the Education sector, which employs approximately 15,000 educators and teachers. These measures include integrating teachers on temporary contracts, who meet the requirements provided for by law, in the teaching career and the annual recruitment of new teachers to ensure the immediate meeting of staff requirements. It should further be noted that the Ministry of Education, within the framework of its own powers, will implement a Skill Assessment Test for teachers on temporary contracts, in order to subsequently promote appropriate training to their needs.
The Council of Ministers also approved the Government Decree that approves and regulates the granting of special incentives to Pre-School Educators and teachers of Basic and Secondary Education, within the curriculum development as well as ongoing and specialised teacher training. This diploma ensures that all educators and teachers have the opportunity to benefit from a salary supplement, as compensation for performing tasks of high technical content and for having a systematic impact on the quality of education and on the strengthening of human resources in the Education sector.
In addition, in the Education sector, the signing of agreements with four foreign higher education institutions to host Timorese students was approved, namely with Jean Piaget University and the University Institute of Education, both in Cape Verde, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in Portugal, and the University of Pedagogical Sciences “Enrique José Varona”, in Havana, Cuba.
In the Agriculture sector, the establishment of a team to negotiate the terms of the agreement of the Sustainable Agriculture Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP) was approved. This project will be financed by the World Bank Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme, with a donation of 21 million dollars to Timor-Leste, in order to increase productivity and market access to small farmers. This donation should be able to benefit more than 16,000 households.
The Council of Ministers also approved the Proposal for a Resolution on the Accession to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, which is to be bought before National Parliament for ratification. Timor-Leste was accepted as a member of this institution in 2003.
In the economic sector, the Proposal for the new Private Investment Law was approved. This proposal will now be submitted to the National Parliament for approval and it is part of the Government’s effort to promote the private sector of the economy and to create conditions to attract foreign investment, following the guidelines of the Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 for the sector. This proposal is intended to modernize the current private investment legal regime, removing some outdated devices and ensuring that the national legislation on investment will act in accordance with guidelines issued by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Comprehensive Investment Agreement, to facilitate the accession of Timor-Leste to the organization. The new legislation on private sector investment will no longer focus on the benefits and customs tax incentives previously offered, leaving it to a separate legislation. The new legislation will facilitate private investment, protect investments and ensure the quality of support provided to investors.
An Amendment to the Government Decree on the Budget Implementation of the State Budget for the year 2016 was also approved, to facilitate the implementation of seasonal agricultural activities.
The Council of Ministers approved the proposal to carry out an integrated airborne geophysical survey, in order to determine the country’s geological potential. This research complements the data obtained in the first phase of the study, which focused on data acquisition regarding the topography of the territory.
The relocation of the Dili Weekend Market from Lecidere to the Borja da Costa Garden in Motael was approved.