Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Timorese Government approved two agreements with Portugal in the social security sector, including a memorandum on the mobility of Timorese workers, which will be signed this Monday in Lisbon.
Timorese government approves social security and mobility agreements with Portugal
At issue are an administrative agreement for the application of the Convention between Timor-Leste and Portugal on Social Security and a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Inclusion of Portugal and the Secretariat of State for Vocational Training and Employment of Timor-Leste. Leste “about the mobility of Timorese workers”, informed the executive in Dili.
The two agreements will be signed by the Portuguese Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, and by the Timorese Minister of Social Solidarity and Inclusion, Verónica das Dores, and by the Secretary of State for Vocational Training and Employment of Timor-Leste, Rogério Araújo Mendonça.
Verónica das Dores is on an official visit to Portugal this week for a series of meetings in the social security and inclusion sector, one of the areas where Portuguese cooperation with Timor-Leste is most important.
According to the Timorese Government, the agreement allows “to articulate and put into force the Social Security Convention, which allows Timorese and Portuguese citizens to benefit from either one country or another, and with the same Social Security benefits from either country. countries”.
Thus, East Timorese who did not take enough discount time in one of the countries to access a pension can now add the discount time in both countries to access that pension.
The convention also includes access to the non-contributory regime for Timorese citizens living in Portugal.
The second text “aims to facilitate and organize in an institutionalized way the influx of Timorese people to Portugal who go in search of work”.
The objective, explains the Timorese Government, is that “the migration of Timorese to Portugal can now be handled officially and the procedures necessary to obtain work visas are facilitated”.
The memorandum on mobility aims to help resolve what has been the large influx of Timorese workers to Portugal, many of whom do not have an employment contract and who end up, in some cases, being exploited by irregular work networks.
In this context, the objective is for Timorese workers to be able to develop professional activities in Portugal through “specific labor mobility programs”, with visas to be issued by the Portuguese consulate in Timor-Leste.
It provides for close cooperation between the employment services of the two countries, to identify the needs of workers and joint efforts to ensure that the selection and recruitment process is “transparent, impartial and objective”.
The memorandum guarantees protection of the rights of Timorese workers and “identical working and remuneration conditions and protection in terms of health and safety at work under equal circumstances”.
“The signatories will continue to deepen their efforts to promote the integration of Timorese workers into the labor market, namely through their training and professional qualifications, creating opportunities for professional training and the development of technical skills”, he said.
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