Meeting of the Council of Ministers of 13th of October of 2010

Secretaria de Estado do Conselho de Ministros Dili, Palacio do Governo, 13 de Outubro de 2010 

IV CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

SECRETARIAT OF STATE OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

PRESS RELEASE

Meeting of the Council of Ministers of 13th of October of 2010

The Council of Ministers met this Wednesday, 13th of October of 2010, in the Council of Ministers Meeting Room, in the Palácio do Governo, in Díli, and approved:

1. Sixth alteration to the Government’s Organic Law

In spite of the organic law of the IV Constitutional Government predicting the existence of two Secretaries of State in the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this Ministry itself has, since the beginning, a minimum governing structure, reduced to the respective minister. This option has an enormous demand to this member of the Government, in terms of work, as well as the need to disperse his attention with many issues. It’s worth reminding that the performance of functions of this specific position demands a frequent absence from the country.

Therefore, the Council of Ministers considers it necessary to reinforce the political capacity of the Ministry creating a post of Vice-Minister, with the mission to support the Minister in his daily activities.

2. Decree-Law that approves the General Regime for Higher Education Valuation and Creates the National Agency for Academic Valuation and Accreditation (Portuguese acronym ANAAA).

The structuring of a system for quality assurance with international recognition, is one of the objectives of the IV Constitutional Government for the higher education policy. To fulfil this goal, in 2007-2008, work was initiated for the initial and intermediate valuation and accreditation of the higher education establishments, by an independent Commission of international experts.

Now that this initial work is concluded, it becomes necessary to create a National Agency for Academic Valuation and Accreditation (ANAAA) to give continuity to the accreditation system, through the procedures where, besides the self-evaluation of the establishments, there is a permanent external evaluation. This organism should be scientific and pedagogy independent and should respect the international standards.

3. Government Resolution that approves the Policy for the Conversion of Administration Agents into Permanent Public Servants

The IV Constitutional Government has the duty to guarantee a professional and efficient Public Service with worthy and just work conditions. The Government recognizes that there is, today, a high proportion of Administration Agents (temporary employees) carrying out functions of a permanent nature. To reduce this proportion, the Public Servant Commission proposes a policy that establishes an appropriate process of conversion of temporary into permanent staff. This policy has the objective to reach a better balance between the workers rights, the organization’s needs, fiscal prudence and the stable and sustainable development of the Public Service in Timor-Leste, according with the laws that rule its creation and management.

The Council of Ministers still analysed:

1. Preliminary Presentation of the 2010 Census Results

The National Directorate for Statistics (Portuguese acronym DNE) made the preliminary presentation of the 2010 Census results to the Council of Ministers. Besides the provisional results of the national consultation carried out last July, the DNE (dependent of the Ministry of Finance) explained the applied methodology of both inquiries and of the results count. The public presentation of these preliminary results will be made on the 20th of October (World Statistic Day). The first definitive results will be presented in April of the next year.

2. Presentation of the budget of the National Elections Commission (Portuguese acronym CNE)

Taking into account the specificity of the work developed by the National Elections Commission, the Commission methodology applied and the time it needs to carry out its mission was presented and discussed. The main objective of this analysis is the definition of the budget to attribute to the CNE for the next fiscal year.

3. Presentation of the Díli Sanitation and Drainage MasterPlan Scoping Document

This Masterplan, to which the Council of Ministers has made available the sum of one million and five hundred thousand dollars, will be developed by an international team lead by the Special Advisor for the Prime Minister, Steve Bracks, and plans for the development of sanitation and drainage for the Timor- Leste capital.


According to the Scoping Document presented to the Council of Ministers, the Masterplan will be concluded at the end of 2011, and from there onwards implement the construction, operation and maintenance activities until 2025.

4. Law Proposal about the First amendment to the Petroleum Fund Law
After the presentation to the Council of Ministers on the 29th of September, regarding the diversification of the Petroleum Fund investments, and where it was concluded that a change in the Law was needed to allow for this diversification, the Ministry of Finance working group presented their alteration proposals today. Briefly, they are proposals for amendments in what concerns the investment policy and risk profile; the transferences / rules for withdrawals; the use of the Petroleum Fund as a guarantee for loans; Operational Management; and lastly, of the composition of the Investment Consultative Council.