Government signs cooperation agreement with Portuguese Law School « Government of Tim-Leste

On June 26, at the Timor-Leste Embassy in Lisbon, the Minister of Planning and Strategic Investments, Gastão Francisco de Sousa, signed five cooperation agreements with the main law schools in Portugal.

The agreement was signed with Professor Isabel Capeloa Gil, Rector of the Catholic University of Portugal; Professor Joana Aguiar e Silva, Vice-Rector of the University of Minho; Professor Eduardo Vera-Cruz Pinto, Dean of the Law School of the University of Lisbon; Professor, PhD Paulo Tarso Domingues, Dean of the Law School of the University of Porto; and Professor Vera Lúcia Raposo, Vice-Dean of the NOVA Law School – NOVA University of Lisbon Law School.

The initiative, launched by the Justice Sector Reform Working Group, coordinated by Lúcia Lobato, aims to send 50 law students per year to Portugal over the next 5 years, who will in the near future become key players in the reform of the Portuguese justice sector, the judiciary and the Timor-Leste Public Defender’s Office.

The human resources training project is particularly targeted at the judiciary, but not limited to it, as some of the trainees will be absorbed into the legal services of Timor-Leste’s public administration and academia. The project foresees that between 250 and 300 jurists will be trained in Portugal and will be fully funded by Timor-Leste, with an initial investment of approximately US$16 million until 2028.