The meeting, held in Dili last week, saw the Council of Ministers review and approve a draft law for the adaptation of tax laws to allow Timor-Leste to collect taxes from oil exploration activity in its waters. The changes are expected to increase tax revenue for Timor-Leste, with the ratification of the Treaty allowing the taxation of areas that were formerly shared with Australia, or exclusively Australian.
The Council of Ministers saw a summary and the outcome of the negotiation process with oil companies currently operating in the joint development area (JDPA) and under licenses issued by Australia. The President of the National Petroleum and Mineral Authority, Gualdino da Silva, says Timor-Leste will undertake to guarantee these companies conditions equivalent to those of the JPDA and the Australian licenses, as they operate on what are now Timor-Leste waters.
East Timorese Minister of State, Agio Pereira, says the government is predicting the final ratification of Timor-Leste and Australia’s maritime boundaries to be before the end of August.
“We plan to have ratification by August 30th. We hope that there will be an exchanging of notes with the National Parliament to confirm that the communal treaty between Australia and Timor-Leste is ratified before then”.
The Council also reviewed draft laws to establish a specific labour and migration regime for the exploration of the Bayun-Undan oil field and approved two proposals for the adaptation of the Law on Petroleum Activities and the Law of the Petroleum Fund to the regime resulting from the new Treaty.