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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on March 8th, 2023
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and approved the draft Government Resolution to establish the working group to reassess the State’s participation in the TL Cement project. The draft was presented jointly by the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Joaquim Amaral, the Minister of Petroleum and Minerals, Víctor da Conceição Soares and by the Vice Minister of Finance, António Freitas.
This Government Resolution aims to establish a working group to reassess the State’s participation in the TL Cement project. The working group will be comprised of representatives from various ministries. It will be responsible for analysing the Special Investment Agreement, the promissory contract and the shareholders’ agreement signed and defining how to exercise the rights conferred by clause 6.3 of the promissory contract. Within a maximum of 40 days, the group will present a report with the conclusions and proposals resulting from the activities developed. The representative of the coordinating minister for Economic Affairs will chair the group. Other representatives from public entities may be invited to participate in the work if necessary. All the Public Administrative Sector bodies and entities will collaborate with the working group, providing all the required information and documentation related to the TL Cement project. The appointment of the representatives must be sent to the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs within five working days after the publication of the Resolution.
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A draft decree-law, presented by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Armindo Maia, to amend Decree-Law 23/2010, of December 9th, which approved the Career Statute for Early Childhood Educators and Primary and Secondary School Teachers (Teaching Career Statute), has been approved.
This amendment aims to update the Teaching Career Statute to accommodate the evolution and current challenges of the education system of Timor-Leste, to continue the development of national human resources, to promote the qualification of teachers and to ensure that they are assigned according to the real needs of the country. Furthermore, it is intended to strengthen career enhancement through regular systems for assessing skills and provides training and performance evaluation mechanisms to ensure the quality of the education and teaching system. In addition, this Decree-Law determines the establishment of a recruitment system for new teachers by creating an application pool and a unique entry system for education professionals who are dedicated to teaching and have acquired the minimum qualifications required by law to join the career. In short, the changes to the Teaching Career Statute aim to ensure the quality of teaching and teachers, promoting means of selection, assessment, and allocation of resources based on merit and professionalism and adapted to the national needs.
Contracted individuals who perform teaching functions during the year 2023 and do not have the minimum academic qualification for teaching are guaranteed the opportunity to choose their future in recognition of their dedication to the national education system. Thus, they will be able to select between open-ended employment contracts to exercise administrative or teaching assistance functions, with remuneration equivalent to Grade D, the first level of the General Civil Service regime or compensation for the dedication of time in service in the amount of one salary for every three years of performance of functions, based on the period of employment registered in SIGAP.
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The Council of Ministers approved two drafts presented by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Armindo Maia and by the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, Abrão Saldanha, regarding the practice of martial arts, namely:
This Martial Arts Organisation and Sport Practice Regime in Timor-Leste aims to establish an adequate legal framework for the teaching, learning and practice of martial arts, focused on the prevention of behaviours that may threaten public order, the regulation of the teaching and practice of martial arts and the promotion of martial arts as a sports practice. The new regime will include guidelines and standards for establishing, authorising and licensing martial arts organisations, disciplinary and misdemeanour liability, criminalising illicit funding of organisations, and a system of incentives for practising martial arts in compliance with the law. The proposal will be sent to the National Parliament for discussion and vote.
To strengthen the position of the Regulatory Commission for Martial Arts, this draft decree-law will transform the CRAM into a public institute with technical, administrative, and financial autonomy and its assets.
The mission of this public institute will be regulating and supervising the teaching, learning, and practice of martial arts with a focus on the physical and mental development of individuals, contributing to the promotion of active citizenship, social inclusion, and non-violence.
The Commission will now have attributions in three critical areas: in the area of administrative offences, becoming responsible for the investigation of cases of administrative violations and the application of the respective sanctions; in the disciplinary area and the supervision of federations with public utility sport, under the terms of existing legislation. It is foreseen that the exercise of CRAM’s attributions will be regulated later, and the respective federations will exercise that part of its functions once their statute is recognised.
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The draft Government Resolution, presented by the Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, to establish the Committee for Preparation of the 8th Constitutional Government’s Term of Office Final Report was approved.
The Commission’s mission is to lead the preparation of the 8th Constitutional Government’s Term of Office Final Report, including a) Developing its methodology and objectives, b) Conducting consultations with relevant entities to determine the proposed objectives for the report, c)Presenting the proposed objectives to the Council of Ministers for approval, d) Facilitating data collection and meetings with relevant entities, e) Ensuring the preparation of the preliminary report, and Presenting the draft report to the Council of Ministers.
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The Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, José Lucas do Carmo da Silva, presented the political-legislative options underlying the initiative to establish a reward for tourism activity.
The presented options aim to establish the licensing of tourism activities upon payment of a fee and the legal framework for collecting fees for tourism activities. Furthermore, it is intended to regulate the activities and investments promoted by natural and legal persons, national and foreign, related to tourism activities and to define the rights and obligations of the public and private sectors to exercise tourism activities.
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The Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak and the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers gave two presentations regarding the preparation of the 8th Constitutional Government’s Term of Office Final Report and the preparation of the second edition of the Voluntary National Review Report (VNR 2.0) on progress in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
During the presentations, the content, structure, timeline, and methodology of the elaboration of these reports were analysed.
The Portrait of the 8th Constitutional Government’s Term of Office [2018-2023] is a publication that will describe the main activities and results of this Government since its inauguration, as well as the challenges faced and recommendations for the future. In addition, it will mention advances in the social, institutional, economic, and infrastructure sectors.
The Voluntary National Review is a process by which countries assess and present their national progress in implementing the 2030 Agenda, including progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to accelerate progress through sharing experiences, peer learning, identifying gaps and good practices, and mobilising partnerships. The VNR 2.0 report is being prepared using extensive consultation and considering the results of the most recent State of Implementation Assessment of the National Strategic Plan 2011-2030, completed in 2021, to assess the current situation and allow for updating the results reported by Timor-Leste in 2019. The results will be presented in July 2023 to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York after approval by the Council of Ministers.
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Lastly, the Minister of State Administration, Miguel Pereira de Carvalho, presented the current waste management and the future management of urban solid waste for the Municipality of Dili.
The status of the development of the solid urban waste management strategy for the Municipality of Dili, which produces more than 200 tons of waste daily, which is then sent to the Tibar dump in Liquiça Municipality, was presented. END