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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on June 29th, 2022
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace, in Dili, and approved the draft Government Resolution, presented by the Minister of Justice, Tiago Amaral Sarmento, to appoint Roberto da Costa Pacheco, to exercise the functions of an effective member of the Government in the Superior Council of the Judiciary, for a four-year term. This Government Resolution also designates Digna Amélia Tilman as a substitute member of the Superior Council of the Judiciary. This Council is responsible for managing and disciplining the activity of judicial magistrates and also for appointing, placing, transferring and promoting judges in Timor-Leste. The Superior Council for the Judiciary is presided over by the Judge President of the Supreme Court of Justice and comprises four members, one of whom is appointed by the Government.
The draft Government Decree approving the salary of the Executive Director and the Statutory Auditor of the Ataúro Special Development Fund was approved. The proposed values for the remunerations of the executive and supervisory and control bodies of the Ataúro Special Development Fund have taken into consideration the complexity and volume of work that will have to be executed by them, as well as the value of the budget of the Ataúro Special Development Fund, whose execution and supervision, respectively, will be their responsibility.
The Council of Ministers has decided to approve the amendment to Public Contract No. ICB/018/MOPTC-2017 for the improvement and maintenance work of the Dili – Ainaro Road, Lot 2: Laulara – Solerema section, dated September 10th, 2018, and the authorization of the corresponding expenditure increase. The estimated handover deadline of the work is extended by 365 days from the effective date of the contract, ending on November 16th, 2022, and the price is increased in the amount of US$ 984,188.24, becoming fixed, due to this increase, at US$ 18,839,489.50. The draft resolution was presented by the Minister of Public Works, Abel Pires da Silva.
The draft Decree-Law, presented by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Culture, Longuinhos dos Santos, aimed at proceeding with the third amendment to Decree-Law No. 7/2012 of 15 February, which approves the Statute of the University Teaching Career, was also approved. With this draft Decree-Law, a set of amendments to the legal regime for the University Teaching Career in Timor-Leste is proposed with a view to its continuous improvement, but always keeping it based on the basic principle of merit in the exercise of teaching activities, linked to research, teaching and contribution to the development of society. Amongst the alterations foreseen in this Decree-Law, the most important are the creation of two new levels in two different categories (B3 and C1+), the adjustment of credits between categories B3 and C3, the guarantee that all the credits obtained from the beginning of the approval of the career to date are considered, the reduction in the number of years of experience qualifying for career progression (five years to just one year) and the distinction between career teachers and contract teachers.
The Council of Ministers also decided to grant full powers to the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, Armanda Berta dos Santos, for the signing of the Bilateral Convention on Social Security between the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and the Portuguese Republic. The purpose of this convention is to protect the workers of both countries, allowing that the time worked in the other country be counted, to fulfil the terms of the guarantee of access to social benefits covered by the Convention. It also ensures that citizens of one of these two countries who reside in the other country benefit from the same social security rights and are subject to the same conditions as the nationals of that country of residence.
Lastly, the Minister of Finance, Rui Augusto Gomes presented to the Council of Ministers the political-legislative options underlying the initiative to create a legal regime for the public-private partnership for diagnostic services. The Timor-Leste Government intends to choose the implementation of a Public-Private Partnership (“PPP”), to make use of the experience and knowledge of private partners, to improve the quality and increase the range and scope of health care provided to the population, regarding laboratory and image diagnosis. END