Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, participated, this Friday, July 3rd, 2020, at the invitation of the Civil Service Commission, in a preparation meeting for the National Civil Service Day, in the Hall of the Ministry of Finance, in Ai-Tarak Laran, Dili, as part of the preparation for the celebration of the Civil Service Day, which will take place on the July 15th.

The purpose of the Chief Executive’s presence was to present, to the General-Directors and National Directors of the various ministerial lines, some guidelines on the Government’s policy for the next three years, and also on the reforms that the Government has already initiated in 2019, namely reforms in public administration, tax, financial management and judicial.

The Head of Government began his intervention with the presentation of four points to the General Directors and National Directors, namely the political situation of the country, the Government’s policy concerning the reforms to be carried out, and its objectives, the objectives of the State and the way to achieve them and, finally, the civil servants training.

On the country’s political situation, Chief Government began with a word, to the Directors, on the political shock that happened after the General State Budget 2020 was refused in the National Parliament, and how, with the efforts of the Sovereign Bodies and Political Parties represented in the National Parliament, this situation has been overcome, allowing the Government, today, to have stability to carry out the constitutional mandate until 2023, providing services to citizens and taking care of the well-being of the people. Besides, he also explained about the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the socio-economic impact and the economic recovery policy after COVID-19.

On the reforms, the Head of Government explained that they must take place to make the State machine lighter and, therefore, one of the important sectors to reform is the public administration. Administrative reform is very important, in order to make public administration more effective, improve service delivery, accountability, and good management. To this end, the Government intends to invest in quality instead of quantity. The second important area of reforms is fiscal and financial management reform. Through this reform, the Government wants to increase the domestic revenues of the State and improve financial management, so that all the plans are well integrated. Third, we have a judicial reform, whose objective is to harmonize existing laws, so that they are not an obstacle to governance. This reform aims to adapt the legislation to the reality of Timor-Leste, to facilitate governance.

Regarding the objectives of the State and the way to achieve them, the Head of Government highlighted several points, namely how to strengthen national independence, identity, unity, economy and social cohesion and how to create a just and solidary society. To this end, the VIII Constitutional Government intends to focus on social capital as the number one priority to achieve during its governance, in order to achieve this objective.

Finally, on the civil servants training, the Head of Government explained that he has already spoken with the President of the Civil Service Commission, the General Director of INAP and the Director of IDN, to define an integrated curriculum that cover topics related to the reinforcement of the civil servants sense or notion of the State, in an attempt to standardize thinking.

Before ending his intervention, the Head of Government asked civil servants to think themselves as the owners of this process, to work as a team, to have a single objective that should be the State interest. Only that way the country can move forward. On the contrary, if not, it will be hard to make Timor-Leste develop.