Meeting of the Council of Ministers on February 12th, 2025
Presidency of the Council of Ministers
Spokesperson of the Government of Timor-Leste
Ninth Constitutional Government
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Press Release
Meeting of the Council of Ministers on February 12th, 2025
The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace in Dili and approved the Draft Bill on the Industrial Property Code, presented by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Filipus Nino Pereira.
This Draft Bill had already been approved by the Council of Ministers at its meeting on March 20th 2024 and sent to the National Parliament. However, during the legislative process, the need for revision was identified so that the law would be limited to the minimum aspects required by international commitments, which led to the drafting of a new proposal.
The creation of the Industrial Property Code is a requirement within the Timor-Leste's framework accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and integration into ASEAN. These processes require compliance with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and harmonisation with provisions of international conventions regulated by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
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Following the presentation of the results of the electricity sector projects developed between June 2023 and December 2024, as well as the budget plan for 2025 of Eletricidade de Timor-Leste, EP (EDTL, EP), the Council of Ministers, on a proposal by the Minister of Public Works, Samuel Marçal, decided to authorise the expenditure for the subsidy contract for the transfer of a provision from the General State Budget (OGE), in the Ministry of Public Works Program “802 Electricity”, to EDTL, EP, for a total amount of 166.5 million US dollars.
This funding is intended to ensure the necessary resources for EDTL, EP, an entity under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Works, to guarantee the supply of electricity throughout the country, an essential public service for the population and the country's economy.
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The Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Agio Pereira, gave an informative presentation on the cases of successive abstract review of unconstitutionality requested to the Court of Appeal by the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice (PDHJ). END