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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on March 29th, 2023
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, establishing the Tourism Activities Framework.
The main goal of this Decree-Law is to boost the country’s economic and social development while respecting and preserving its identity and its natural, cultural, and historical heritage.
This Decree-Law aims to organise, promote, encourage, monitor and supervise tourism activities, contribute to the balanced development of the country, create jobs and alleviate poverty, promote the national private sector to participate in tourism, establish mechanisms for inter-institutional participation and coordination, improve the quality of life of local communities and increase the safety of tourists and consumers. The Decree-Law also sets general principles, including harmonisation and equality, responsibility, sustainability, transversality, competitiveness, and international collaboration and cooperation.
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Also approved was the draft Decree-Law, also presented by the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce, and Industry, concerning the Tourism Authority of Timor-Leste, I.P., which will be responsible for regulation, promotion and marketing, enhancement of the business environment and sustainability of tourism.
The Authority will have regulatory powers in tourism matters developed by public and private entities. The Tourism Authority will be supervised by the Government member responsible for the tourism area. Its mission will be to promote, empower, coordinate, monitor and develop the private and public sectors, contributing to the promotion and strengthening of tourism and the country’s economic development.
This Authority will also be responsible for qualifying and developing tourism infrastructures, developing the qualification and training of human resources, supporting investment in the tourism sector, promoting the creation of knowledge about the industry, and coordinating the internal and external promotion of Timor-Leste as a tourism destination.
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The Council of Ministers approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Prime Minister and the President of the Special Administrative Region of Oe-Cusse Ambeno Authority (RAEOA – Portuguese Acronym), which proceeds with the second amendment to Decree-Law No. 28/2014, of September 24th, approving the Special Procurement Regime of the RAEOA.
The amendment of the Special Procurement Regime for the RAEOA aims at increasing administrative efficiency and adjusting the regime to the region’s specific procurement needs.
This draft Decree-Law foresees the possibility of negotiation prior to the awarding in the types of procurement of restricted bidding and request of quotes when the technical complexity of the procedure or its parts justifies it. Furthermore, a new kind of procurement has also been added, namely the direct adjustment, with an exceptional and subsidiary nature, applicable in the situations foreseen in the present Decree-Law.
To simplify the provisioning process, where the option is made for the type of request for quotations for goods, works or services of less complexity and cumulatively, the object of the procedure has a value of less than US$ 10 thousand, it is allowed to dispense with the pre-qualification procedure, through the request of at least three proposals to suppliers or service providers.
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Also approved was the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Ministry of Defence, which proceeds with the second amendment to Decree-Law no. 7/2019 of April 17th, which approves the Organic Law of the Ministry of Defence, amended and republished by Decree-Law no. 57/2020, of November 11th.
Among the proposed amendments is the establishment of the National Directorate of Military Infrastructures, which will be responsible for the Ministry’s administrative management, and financial execution and for supporting the National Directorate of Planning in budget planning.
Minor changes have been introduced in various aspects of the current organisation of the Ministry of Defence, namely the centralisation of all planning for the Ministry of Defence in the National Directorate of Planning. In addition, detailed changes were also introduced to clarify issues related to the physical archive and the existence of a virtual database of the Ministry’s suppliers.
The matters for which the National Directorate of Human Resources is responsible have been clarified and expanded to ensure the correct execution of the Ministry of Defence’s capacity building and human resources management. In addition, a more restricted composition of the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Defence is also foreseen for those situations in which the Minister of Defence understands that this advisory body doesn’t need to meet in its standard composition.
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The Council of Ministers approved the draft Decree-Law, presented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, on the regime for hiring personnel to support the activities of Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN.
This hiring regime shall apply to public administration workers hired to perform activities related to Timor-Leste’s accession to ASEAN. The hiring process will be conducted based on the principles of legality, transparency, selection by merit, impartiality, good faith, freedom of application and equality of conditions and opportunities.
Through a Government Resolution, the Decree-Law creates a technical commission, which will have representatives from the relevant ministerial lines and will be responsible for surveying needs, determining the number of vacancies and functions, competencies, and necessary qualifications.
Successful candidates must have at least a bachelor’s degree and will be classified into two categories according to their academic qualifications and professional experience. Applications will be made exclusively online, and the selection process includes an electronic, written exam, a knowledge exam, a speech exam, and an interview.
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The draft Decree-Law, presented by the Ministry of Justice, concerning the staffing and exercise of management and leadership of the Technical and Administrative Support Services of the Attorney General’s Office and the staffing of the Technical and Administrative Services of the Offices of the Attorney General’s Office of Appeal, the Attorney General’s Office of First Instance and the Administrative and Tax Attorney General’s Office, was approved.
This draft Decree-Law establishes the staffing of the Technical and Administrative Support Services of the Attorney General’s Office and other Attorney General’s Office bodies, including management and leadership positions. The staff of these services are responsible for coordinating procedures relating to the intervention of the Attorney General’s Office with the courts and assignments in criminal matters.
Due to the nature of its activities, which often require permanent availability, a monthly supplement of 20% of basic pay is established to compensate employees for being on duty outside regular working hours.
Thus, the necessary conditions for the excellent execution of the Statute of the Attorney General’s Office are adopted. The appropriate conditions are created so that support services for the respective bodies can perform their tasks efficiently and regularly.
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The Council of Ministers approved two draft Government Resolutions, presented by the Prime Minister and the Civil Service Commission, establishing the vacancies for promotion for 2023 for personnel integrated into the Labour Inspectors Regime and in the General Regime for Civil Service Careers.
Thus, for 2023, the Council of Ministers decided to fix the vacancies for promotion of personnel integrated into the Labour Inspectors Regime, two of which will be vacancies for Regional Inspector and four for 1st Category Inspector.
Of the total vacancies for promotion defined for the General Regime for Civil Service Careers, 36 will be for Superior Technician – Grade A, 110 for Superior Technician – Grade B, 168 for Professional Technician – Grade C, 236 for Professional Technician – Grade D, 146 for Administrative Technician – Grade E, and 87 for Assistant – Grade F.
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The draft Decree-Law, presented by the Ministry of Justice, which aims to proceed with the extraordinary extension of the validity period of e-passports in Timor-Leste, was approved.
Despite efforts to acquire the necessary booklets to issue Timor-Leste’s e-passports, several factors have prevented its success. For this reason, the Council of Ministers decided to extend the validity of e-passports that expire during the period in which the Decree Law is in force, until May 6th, 2024, provided they still have pages available.
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The Council of Ministers approved the presentation of Dr Zacarias Albano da Costa’s reapplication to Executive Secretary of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries for another two-year term.
The election of the Executive Secretary of the CPLP will be confirmed at the next Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries that will take place in July 2023 in São Tomé and Príncipe.
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Also approved was the draft Government Resolution, presented by the Ministry of State Administration, to acquire ballot papers for the parliamentary election of May 21st, 2023.
Thus, the Council of Ministers decided not to prevent the production of the said ballot papers from being contracted between the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE -Portuguese Acronym) and the National Press of Timor-Leste, IP (INTL – Portuguese Acronym), under the terms of the legal norms in force.
The Council of Ministers also decided not to prevent STAE from establishing the procurement procedures, namely direct adjustment, which applies to acquiring ballot papers necessary for the parliamentary election.
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Lastly, the Council of Ministers attended the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries presentation on the response to the IPC’s Acute Food Insecurity classification (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification), which indicates that currently, 300,000 people in Timor-Leste face high food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 and 4).
The leading indicators and recommendations for preventing and reducing food insecurity in the country were presented. END