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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on November 24th, 2021
The Council of Ministers met, at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Defence, Filomeno da Paixão de Jesus, regarding the Organic Statute of the F-FDTL.
The present law aims to proceed with the organic reform of the Armed Forces, thus enabling them to provide a more adequate response to new challenges and missions that require increasingly integrated responses together with our strategic partners at regional and global level. The diploma clarifies the competences of the respective bodies and services and promotes the improvement of political-military articulation with regard to National Defence.
This draft Decree-Law also aims to make the organization of the F-FDTL compatible with the current legal context, namely the National Defence Law and the Maritime Authority System, as well as with a set of structuring documents in the area of Defence, namely the Strategic Concept of Defence and National Security, the Strategic Military Concept, the National Force System, the Missions of the Armed Forces and the F-FDTL System.
Also approved was the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Culture, Longuinhos dos Santos, establishing the legal regime of the national standard curriculum for higher education and regulates the binary system, the legal regime of degrees and diplomas of higher education, the conditions for their attribution, the corresponding credit system, the academic calendar, the system of assessment of course units and the completion of a study programme. The purpose of this draft Decree-Law is to::
• Regulate and develop the diplomas and degrees that the binary education system can offer to higher education students and ensure a system of mobility between them;
• Guarantee the basic knowledge and skills necessary for the exercise of a given profession;
• Define an assessment system for higher education;
• Make students more entrepreneurial and competitive in today’s national and international job market, equipping them with knowledge and skills for the 21st century;
• Allow higher education students and teachers to enjoy a national and international mobility framework for their study plans, as well as to have their competences recognised on the international labour market; and
• Facilitate the process of recognition of degrees obtained by our students in national higher education institutions, at international level, as well as allow the recognition of degrees obtained abroad, at national level.
The Council of Ministers approved the draft Decree Law for the creation of the credit line “Fasilidade Garantia Crédito Suave” (Soft Loan Guarantee Facility). The draft Decree-Law was presented by the Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, José Lucas do Carmo da Silva and aims to promote and stimulate social entrepreneurship and investment in innovative projects, which allow the strengthening of the national business and industrial fabric. The Credit Line “Fasilidade Garantia Crédito Suave” (Soft Loan Guarantee Facility) aims to support the capitalisation of companies and facilitate access to financing for micro, small and medium enterprises, especially focused on social entrepreneurship and innovation in the trade, tourism and industry sectors.
The Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes, presented the draft Decree-Law, approved by the Council of Ministers, on the extraordinary payment of an additional month’s salary to civil servants, agents and fix-term contract employees of the Public Administration. All Public Administration employees and agents are covered by this extraordinary payment, except foreign fix-term contract employees.
Also approved was the draft Government Decree, presented by the Minister of Finance, regarding the supplementary payment to employees and agents involved in the preparation of the General State Budget for 2022 and the closing of the General State Account for 2021. This supplement aims to compensate the extraordinary workload of the employees and agents of the Ministry of Finance assigned to these processes, which require a working day much longer than the normal period provided by law.
The Council of Ministers approved, with amendments, the draft Decree-Law, also presented by the Minister of Finance, for the first amendment to the Decree-Law on the Legal Regime of the Public Private Partnership for the Port of Tibar. With this decree-law it is now foreseen that the State must provide the land necessary for the implementation of the measures foreseen in the environmental license, environmental impact statement and environmental management plans and that the concessionaire may access, transit and perform works on those lands.
After the analysis of the presentation of the national epidemiological situation, by the coordinators of the Situation Room of the Integrated Centre for Crisis Management (CIGC – Portuguese acronym) and taking into account the recent promulgation of the first alteration to Law no. 10/2004, the Health System Law, the Council of Ministers has decided:
Compared to the measures in force, the decree-law maintains most of the imposed measures and introduces some changes, namely that entry to national territory is no longer subject to authorisation granted by the Prime Minister, while entry to the country continues to be subject to sanitary control and presentation of a negative SARS-CoV-2 test result.
Licences, permits and other administrative acts and documents shall remain valid until January 31st, 2022, provided that these time limits are not fixed by international agreement or by a law passed by the National Parliament under reservation of absolute jurisdiction.
The obligation to perform compulsory prophylactic isolation under the terms previously defined, remains. END