Dili, 10 April 2000
The commander of TNI Udayana Regional Command (covers Bali and West Timor) Major-General Kiki Syahnakri will arrive in Dili tomorrow for the signature of an MOU on cooperation in border issues. UNTAET Peacekeeping Force Commander Lt-General Jaime de los Santos will sign the MOU on behalf of UNTAET.
Syahnakri is expected to arrive in Dili around 10.am. The signing ceremony will be held at the PKF headquarters in Dili, to be followed by a press conference. Syahanakri is expected to meet senior UNTAET officials and CNRT President Xanana Gusmao before leaving Dili.
The border issues have so far been governed by a memorandum signed in January between Syahnakri and the Interfet Commander Major-General Peter Cosgrove.
WORLD BANK PROJECT TO KICKSTART TIMORESE PRIVATE SECTOR
A Small and Medium Enterprises Project by the World Bank is expected to be signed Tuesday. This project will provide loans to Timorese businesses and it aims at the development of the country s private sector. Initial grant of 4.8 million dollars for this project was made by the Government of Portugal last week.
The project will make available loans ranging from US$500 to US$50,000 to East Timorese with viable business plans. Business ideas from all sectors wil be eligible for consideration. The loans will be facilitated and administered by the Portuguese Banco Ultra Marino.
There are currently 772 businesses registered on permanent basis with the UNTAET Registration Unit. One hundred of those are foreign and the remainder are Timorese. 1500 applications for permanent registration have been lodged so far with the unit.
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS A 40-HOUR WORKING WEEK
At its third meeting held on Thursday in Dili, the Public Service Commission decided to recommend that state employees should have 12 days of annual leave. The recently appointed Commission also made a recommendation that the working week for state employees in East Timor should have 40 working hours.
It was agreed that civil servants should work for 40 hours from Monday to Friday, followed by 48 hours of consecutive rest. The normal working day should be from 7.30 to 12.00 and 13.30 to 17.00. The commission recommended a flexible approach for employees of those departments required to work on Saturday to be off on Mondays.
