Presidency of the Council of Ministers

Eighth Constitutional Government

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Press Release

Meeting of the Council of Ministers on October 20th, 2021

The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace, in Dili and, after analysing the presentation of the National Epidemiological Situation, carried out by the coordinators of the Situation Room of the Integrated Centre for Crisis Management (CIGC), decided to propose it to His Excellency, the President of the Republic, Francisco Guterres Lú Olo, the renewal of the state of emergency, for another thirty days, between October 30^th, 2021, 12:00 a.m. and November 28^th, 2021, 11:59 p.m..

Given that the determining causes that justified the declaration of the state of emergency and its renewals remain in place, in order to prevent and neutralize the risk of spreading of new strains of SARS-CoV-2, thus, to protect public health and the response capacity of the National Health System, the Government proposes to the President of the Republic that, with the renewal of the state of emergency, the suspension or restriction of some fundamental rights and guarantees be allowed.

Four draft Decree-Laws presented by the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, Armanda Berta dos Santos, were approved, regarding:

• First amendment to the Decree-Law no. 20/2017, of May 24^th, which approves the registration and contributory obligation under the social security contributory scheme. The purposes of this draft Decree-Law are:

o   to extend the scheme to new groups of workers;

o   to correct some aspects of the contributory base and expand the number of optional membership levels;

o   to ensure the protection and incorporation of workers temporarily working abroad ; and

o   to ensure equal treatment of all workers, by eliminating the rule that imposes a ceiling on the contribution to be paid (and benefits to be received) for workers with fixed-term contracts in the Public Administration.

 

• First amendment to Decree-Law no. 17/2017, of May 24^th, and Decree Law no. 19/2017, of May 24^th, which approve, respectively, the legal regime of invalidity and old age pensions and the legal regime of death benefits, under the contributory social security scheme. The purposes of this draft Decree-Law are:

o   To guarantee the basic principle of the contributory scheme, associating the duty to contribute with the right to receive social benefits;

o   To regulate the calculating formula for invalidity and old ages pensions for workers partially covered by the transitional regime (with rights in training);

o   To ensure that whoever contributes to the general scheme will always be entitled to a pension worth more than the Support Allowance for Elders and Disabled; and

o   To clarify the way presumed death is to be dealt with for social security purposes.

 

• First amendment to Decree-Law No. 19/2008, of June 19^th, which approves the Support Subsidy for Elders and Disabled. Given that when the aforementioned legal diploma entered into force, no other social security scheme had yet been created in Timor-Leste and, in the meantime, having been created a contributory social security scheme, it is intended with this draft Decree-Law to review and adapt the general rule on the accumulation of benefits, in order to make it socially fair.

 

• First amendment to Decree-Law No. 55/2020, of October 28^th, which approves the establishment of the Social Security Reserve Fund (FRSS) and the definition of the respective management model. With this draft Decree-Law, it is intended to make changes to investment limits in shares and private debt, in order to ensure a “reference portfolio” that effectively meets the objectives of the FRSS, as well as increasing the margin of freedom of Government action, annually, according to the behaviour of the economy and markets.

 

The Council of Ministers deliberated to approve the procurement procedures for the award of contracts related to the solid waste management project in Dili, according to the project presented by the Minister of State Administration, Miguel Pereira de Carvalho. The project has three components, as follows:

• provision of solid waste collection and transportation services in the city of Dili, concerning to Lot 1 – East Zone and Lot 2 – West Zone;
• concept/design, construction, rehabilitation and management of a landfill and waste treatment plan in Tibar; and
• supply of equipment for waste collection in Dili and for the operation of the Tibar landfill and waste treatment plant, supply of waste containers and bins, supply of waste collection equipment and for landfill operations.

 

Lastly, the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, presented the status of the execution of the Government’s Legislative Plan for 2021. The legislative plan was approved by the Council of Ministers at the meeting held on January 13^th, and it was elaborated based on the proposals submitted by the members of the Council of Ministers. The Plan consists of a forecast of the Government’s legislative interventions and respective priorities, divided by sectors, for the year 2021. During the meeting, the members of the Council of Ministers analysed which of the 241 initiatives foreseen at the beginning of the year have already been finalized, which are in the finalization process and which are still to be presented to the Council of Ministers. END