5 July 2022: The ceremony of Signing the Addendum to the Delegation Agreement between the European Union and Portuguese Cooperation and the Handover of Secure Servers to the PCIC took place in the Ministry of Justice Auditorium within the scope of the PFMO-Component 2 project "OSAN POVU NIAN, JERE HO DI'AK".

The PFMO aims to strengthen the capacity of state and non-state institutions to control public finances, mainly the National Parliament, the Inspector General's Office, the Chamber of Auditors, the Anti-corruption Commission, the Criminal Investigation Police, the Media and Civil Society Organisations.

The first part of the ceremony consisted in the signing of the addendum, which extends the execution of the project for an additional period of 18 months, until 31 August 2023.

This extension results from the need to complete the actions planned in the initial implementation period (September 2017 to February 2022), as well as to carry out new activities requested by the Government of Timor-Leste in the meantime.

In the second part of the ceremony, secure servers were delivered to the Criminal Investigation and Scientific Police (PCIC), equipment of high technical capacity, which will contribute to a qualitative leap in the development of cybersecurity and cybercrime programmes, particularly directed at their operational needs.

This support is part of a wider programme of capacity building for the PCIC and its investigators with regard to their competencies, namely in the areas of information and international police cooperation, the Laboratory of Forensic Science and the investigation of economic and financial crime, computer crime and money laundering.

The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Justice, Tiago Amaral Sarmento, the Ambassador of the European Union, Andrew Jacobs, the Ambassador of Portugal, Manuela Bairos, the Director of Programmes of the National Ordnance Survey, Mr Gregório Ferreira da Silva and the National Director of the PCIC, Vicente Fernandes e Brito, among other executives.

In his intervention, the Ambassador of the European Union, Andrew Jacobs said: "The implementation of the activities in the remaining period is a challenge for all. The European Union is however confident that the experience accumulated over the more than 4 years of the project and the determination and resilience and knowledge of all the partner institutions involved, Portuguese and Timorese, will be able to bring this boat to a successful conclusion and contribute to achieving the ultimate goals of the PFMO, i.e. that Justice and the Rule of Law prevail and that the State can better serve the people of Timor-Leste."

The OSAN POVU NIAN, JERE HO DI'AK project, "Partnership for the Improvement of Service Delivery through the Strengthening of Public Finance Management and Supervision in East Timor" (PFMO-Component 2), is co-financed by the European Union, in the amount of 12 million euros, and co-financed and managed by the Instituto Camões I.P, in the amount of 600 thousand euros