Rui Augusto Gomes (born 21 September 1958) is an

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

ese politician, administrator and academic. From November 2020 to July 2023, he was the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

, serving in the VIII Constitutional Government of East Timor led by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Taur Matan Ruak José Maria Vasconcelos (born 10 October 1956), popularly known as Taur Matan Ruak (Tetum for "Two Sharp Eyes"), is an East Timorese politician who has served as the prime minister of East Timor since 22 June 2018. He was also President of Ea ...

. Previously, he was Minister for Planning and Finance in the earlier VII Constitutional Government. He has also worked as an economic adviser and Chief of Staff to the

President of East Timor The president of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste ( pt, Presidente da República Democrática de Timor-Leste; tet, Prezidente Republika Demokratika Timor-Leste) is the head of state of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. The executiv ...

, in various capacities for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

(UNDP) and as a university lecturer.

Early life and career

Gomes was born in

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the ...

(now

). He holds a PhD in Development Economics from

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

in the United Kingdom, and has worked and researched for many years in the areas of economic development, poverty reduction and human development. As of 1998, he was a lecturer at the University of Porto. He has also been the Economic Specialist at the UNDP Resource Center based in Bangkok, and Assistant Country Director of UNDP Timor-Leste.

Political career

On 5 August 2015, Taur Matan Ruak, who was then the

, appointed Gomes as his

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

, replacing Fidelis Leite Magalhães. Previously, Gomes had been a personal advisor to the President on economic issues. On 15 September 2017, Gomes was sworn in as Minister for Planning and Finance in the VII Constitutional Government led by

Mari Alkatiri Mari bin Amude Alkatiri, GCIH ( ar, مرعي بن عمودة الكثيري '; born 26 November 1949) is a Timorese politician. He was Prime Minister of East Timor from May 2002 until his resignation on 26 June 2006 following weeks of politica ...

. His term of office ended on 22 June 2018 when the VIII Constitutional Government took over; he then reverted being an economic adviser, this time to President Francisco Guterres "Lu-Olo", who had taken up that office in 2017. On 18 June 2020, Gomes was entrusted with the role of President of the Commission for the Preparation of the Economic Recovery Plan for East Timor following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The commission's responsibility was to recommend to the VIII Constitutional Government the measures to be adopted and the actions to be taken for the recovery of East Timor's national economy. Under Gomes's leadership, the commission developed a plan focusing on the promotion of human capital, agriculture, tourism, housing, education, health and social protection. On 23 November 2020, Gomes was re-appointed as

to succeed his own successor

Fernando Hanjam Fernando Hanjam is an East Timorese politician and academic. In 2020, he served briefly as the Minister of Finance under the VIII Constitutional Government of East Timor led by Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak. Previously, in 2017–18, he was M ...

, who had had to resign due to ill health. Gomes' tenure as Minister ended when the IX Constitutional Government took office on 1 July 2023. He was succeeded by Santina Viegas Cardoso.

Publications

* ''Pembangunan or kolonialisme?: Administering development in East Timor'', (Perth: MA dissertation,

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

, 1997) * ''Some thoughts for alternative development assistance to East Timor,'' (Lisbon: Paper for the Eighth Christian Consultation on East Timor, 13–14 September 1997)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomes, Rui Augusto East Timorese civil servants Finance ministers of East Timor Government ministers of East Timor Independent politicians in East Timor Living people Political chiefs of staff 1958 births 21st-century East Timorese politicians Alumni of London South Bank University Murdoch University alumni