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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers of October 3, 2018
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and discussed the presentation by the President of the Special Administrative Region of Oé-Cusse Ambeno (RAEOA) and Special Zones for the Social Market Economy of Timor-Leste (ZEESM TL), Dr. Marí Bin Amude Alkatiri. The President of RAEOA and the ZEESM presented to the Council of Ministers the budgetary results since 2015, the budget proposal for 2019 and the current situation of the projects. Since 2015, 182 projects were developed in coordination with the central government, including the construction of the airport, roads, bridges and irrigation systems.
The Government also reviewed the presentation on the “Development Plan for a Sustainable Economy of Marine Ecotourism in Timor-Leste”. This plan presents a proposal to transform Timor-Leste so that it becomes a reference in dive tourism and whale watching in Southeast Asia. The development plan for a sustainable marine eco-tourism economy in Timor-Leste aims to provide the necessary research and media coverage to place Timor-Leste on the global eco-tourism map. It also aims to help create the necessary logistics and infrastructures for the protection and conservation of all marine life.
The Council of Ministers approved the Government’s Resolution proposed by the Ministry of State Administration for the creation of the Guinea-Bissau Electoral Registration Support Mission (MAPRE-GB 2018) for the elections on 18 November 2018. The creation of MAPRE-GB 2018 follows a request by Guinea/Bissau to support the organization and implementation of the electoral registry, recognizing the important contribution that the two East Timorese missions in support of the electoral processes of Guinea-Bissau, established in 2013 and 2014, provided for the holding of free and fair elections in this country. MAPRE-GB 2018 will provide technical assistance and human resources training for the Guinea-Bissau electoral management bodies and promote the technological requirements for electoral registration operations. The approved Government Resolution appoints Tomás do Rosário Cabral to the post of Chief of MAPRE-GB 2018 and defines the budgetary limits of the mission.
The Government approved the proposal for a Government Decree, presented by the Acting Minister of Finance, Sara Lobo Brites, on the implementation of the General State Budget (OGE) for 2018. This decree approves the rules and procedures for implementation, monitoring and reporting requirements for the State and Social Security Budgets for the year 2018, essential for a rigorous and adequate monitoring of budget execution, as a decisive instrument for the full compliance with the principles and guidelines established by the OGE for 2018. The entry into force of the OGE for 2018 allows for the return to normality of budget execution, allowing to respond to the priority needs, to favor the resumption of economic growth, to provide conditions for the installation of the Eight Constitutional Government and, above all, to lay the foundations for the implementation of the governance program.
The Council of Ministers approved the proposal for a Decree-Law on the Organic Law of the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals, a governmental entity with responsibilities in the design, execution, implementation, evaluation and follow-up of the policy defined and approved by the Government for energy, oil, gas and mineral resources. The approval of the respective organic law intends to provide this Ministry with a dynamic and efficient structure, capable of meeting the ever-increasing technical requirements of these activities and, thus, to exercise adequate guidance and control, including environmental licensing.
Also approved at the meeting of the Council of Ministers was the proposal for a Decree-Law on the Organic Law of the Ministry of National Liberation Combatants Affairs, in order to provide the Ministry with a structure of organization and function that allows the pursuit of its attributions with gains in efficiency in the management of existing human resources and services. The Ministry of National Liberation Combatants Affairs has as its mission to design, implement, coordinate and evaluate the policy, defined and approved by the Council of Ministers, in the areas of national liberation combatants, recognizing and valuing, as enshrined in the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, the secular resistance of the Maubere People against foreign domination and the State’s responsibility to ensure special protection for all those who participated in resistance to foreign occupation.
The Council of Ministers approved the proposal for a Government Resolution on the Appointment of Members of the Political Review Committee of the 2019 Budget to verify the strategic allocation of resources in order to achieve the commitments and objectives contained in the strategic documents and to assess the feasibility of the plans for the financial year 2019, for the preparation of the proposal of the State Budget to be submitted to the National Parliament by November 8, 2018. The Committee has as President the Prime Minister, as Vice-President the Acting Minister of Finance, and as members the Minister of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and Acting Minister for Planning and Strategic Investment, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Minister for Public Works and the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, and as observers the Minister of Legislative Reform and Parliamentary Affairs and the Secretary of State for Equality and Inclusion. ENDS