23 November 2012

Council of Ministers extraordinary meeting on November 20, 2012

ETLJB 23 November 2012 - On Tuesday, November 20, 2012, the Council of Ministers convened in
the training room at the Ministry of Finance in Díli and approved:

1. Government Resolution approving an allocation of financial aid to hurricane victims Sandy
in Haiti


Following the declaration of a state of emergency and an appeal for international assistance from the
Government of Haiti due to Hurricane Sandy and rainstorms which ravaged the country, causing a
devastating loss of life and property, the V Constitutional Government Timor-Leste will donate one million dollars for humanitarian assistance to the affected population.

Nearly two million Haitians are struggling from food insecurity and a lack of basic infrastructure. Severe floods have also increased the risk of a resurgence of the Cholera epidemic which has killed  about eight thousand people and has affected 600,000 in total since October 2010.

It is important to remember that Haiti was the victim of a violent earthquake in 2010, resulting in a wave of international solidarity which Timor-Leste joined.

The courage and dignity the Haitian people have demonstrated through these natural disasters is an
example for the world of the resiliency of the human spirit and it reinforces the need for stronger and more effective international cooperation on the global scale.

2. 2013 State Budget
The Council of Ministers also used this opportunity to review and discuss the results of the reports of the technical and political meetings of the Commission for the Revision of the General State Budget (OGE) for the financial year 2013, and approved the overall amounts allocated to each ministry for next year.

Source: Government of East Timor Council of Ministers Press Release 20 NOvember 2012
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ETLJB Editor's Note: The Government of East Timor, in its third largest public procurement contract, recently awarded an Indonesian company a contract to construct 11,140 new houses for US$86,898,684. That works out at $7800.60 per new house. With the financial aid provided to Haiti of $1000000, 128 new houses for East Timorese citizens could have been built. Charity begins at home.

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