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News
15 Countries to Implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
On September 27, 2007, the Board agreed that 15 countries are considered candidate countries and can proceed to implementation. For a further group of nine countries, the Board agreed that additional information would be requested by the end of 2007 so that a decision about candidate status can be determined. The decision came as part of the EITI Validation process for countries and companies committed to implementing the initiative.
Sierra Leone Launches EITI
The Sierra Leone Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (SLEITI) was launched by His Excellency President Kabbah on 28 June 2007. In November 2006 the government of Sierra Leone engaged technical support to implement the Initiative from the Department for International Development.
Political responsibility for the initiative is designated to the post of the Minister of Presidential Affairs - EITI Champion. In January 2007, a delegation attended an EITI workshop hosted by the Ghanaian government where the Champion delivered a key note speech. To date, key government institutions including the National Revenue Authority, Ministry of Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Finance have endorsed EITI and pledged to work towards its implementation.
There is at present no single voice for mining industry in Sierra Leone. However, efforts are being made to establish a Chamber of Mines in the country. This will be of key importance to the implementation of EITI as a standard way through which to engage industry. Civil Society continues to be supportive of the Initiative and has carried out a year long sensitisation programme of civil society groups in the provincial areas.
To date, there is a SLEITI framework and work plan in place. Both documents have extended focus beyond diamonds to include bauxite, rutile and gold – the fist phase of SLEITI will publish and verify data from the four large scale mining companies operating in the country. The SLEITI steering Committee, formed in December 2006 has worked with the support of technical assistance to produce the SLEITI framework and implementation plan.
Components of the Initiative have also been included in the recently redrafted Mines and Mineral Act. Additionally, the EITI has gone into the draft constitution as an ‘enabling provision’ – the purpose is to ensure that an EITI Commission is set up and provided with a mandate to legislate on EITI.
Keynote Speech: Dr. Shehou Sesay, Minister for Presidential Affairs
President Kabbah Receives In Audience New Director-General Of The Ministry Of Mineral Resources
Address by His Excellency the President Alhaj Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah on the Occasion of the Special Session of the Second Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone, 19 June 2007.
Liberia Holds EITI Launch Workshop
Liberia celebrated the launch of its Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Liberia (LEITI) at Monrovia City Hall on July 10th. The event was presided over by Liberia’s President, her Excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who formally launched the LEITI. Statements were also made by several Cabinet Ministers, other government representatives, civil society, the private sector, and international development partners including the African Development Bank.
LEITI will work to ensure that the natural resources of Liberia – mines, forests, and potentially oil – are used in the interests of the Liberian people, rather than to enrich private individuals. This will be done via the publication of all payments made by mining, petroleum, and forestry companies to the government and government personnel. Payment and revenue information will be reconciled by an independent administrator, and will undergo external audits.
Chairman of EITI’s International Board, Dr. Peter Eigen highlighted the significance of this process in a letter to Her Excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf earlier this week. "The launch of the LEITI", he wrote, "shows your Government's commitment to good governance and transparency practices. It demonstrates a willingness to working together with civil society." It is by collaborating with civil society that LEITI hopes to ensure that all Liberians are able to benefit from the generous bounty of Liberia’s lands, mines, and forests.
LEITI will be overseen by a Steering Committee composed of members of the government, civil society, the private sector, and international development partners.
Click here to for the full speeches of President Sirleaf and Finance Minister Antoinette Sayeh.
Security Council Underscores Need for Peacekeeping Mandates to Consider Helping States Prevent Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources from Fuelling Conflict
EITI gets at least five mentions in this press release, one each from: Germany, Italy, and Japan, in the Presidential Statement, and a statement from the Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe.
From the Presidential Statement:
The Security Council acknowledges the crucial role that the Peacebuilding Commission, together with other United Nations and non-United Nations actors, can play in post-conflict situations, in assisting Governments, upon their request, in ensuring that natural resources become an engine for sustainable development. In this regard, the Security Council recognizes the role of voluntary initiatives aiming at improving revenue transparency, such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The Security Council also stresses that the use, disposal and management of natural resources is a multifaceted and cross-sector issue that involves various United Nations organizations. In this regard, the Security Council acknowledges the valuable contribution of various United Nations organizations in promoting lawful, transparent and sustainable management and exploitation of natural resources.
New Head of Peru EITI Technical Secretariat
Joint UNCTAD-EITI seminar on Revenue Transparency and Natural Resource
Date: 6 July 2007
Time: 13:00-16:00 hrs
Location: Geneva
Venue: Centre International de Conferences
Description: The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in collaboration with UNCTAD will host a half-day seminar on Revenue Transparency and Natural Resource Extraction - progress and challenges of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Click here for the invitation.
Transparency as a cure for the ‘resource curse’: global consensus and tasks pending for Spain--Comment from FRIDE
by Nils-Sjard Schulz
Associate researcher and independent consultant for development cooperation
The contradictory relationship between natural resource wealth and poverty in human development and governance, especially pronounced among the hydrocarbon-rich African countries, represents a complex challenge for industrialised nations highly dependent on these energy supplies. In response to the "resource curse" suffered by so many countries of the South, with its accompanying corruption and violence, a regime for transparency in the payments made by extractive multinationals has been created. Representing an agreement between parties who in other circumstances would not readily collaborate, these new rules offer great potential for global governance. While Spain has a notable interest in energy security, it has not yet shown a great deal of commitment to this new initiative, in spite of the significant potential it offers for achieving greater coherence in Spain's Development Aid policy. (Versión española pdf)
Civil Society Organizations strengthen global governance – Example: the fight against international grand corruption
On the occasion of a speech he delivered at the College of Business at Ohio University, Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen, Founder of global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International and Chairman of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) said:
...
A new initiative, the “Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative” (EITI) seeks the developmental deployment of natural resource revenue. Natural resources present enormous development opportunities, provided that they are managed well. By requiring transparency over payments from oil, gas and mining companies to host governments, EITI critically contributes towards good governance and to ensuring that local populations benefit from what are after all their natural resources.
Canada’s New Government Supports an International Initiative to Improve Governance in Resource-Rich Countries
Colombia Enters the Initiative For the Transparency Of the Extractive Industries (Eiti)
Germans demand China signs oil pact
Reform in Yemen: Progress and obstacles
Colombia Entra En La Iniciativa Para La Transparencia De Las Industrias Extractivas (Eiti)
Azerbaijan discloses fifth EITI report
The publication of Azerbaijan’s fifth EITI report follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on November 24, 2004 between the Government of Azerbaijan, foreign and local extractive industry companies and a coalition of some 90 local Non-Governmental Organisations for Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries to implement EITI in Azerbaijan.
Canada’s New Government Supports an International Initiative to Improve Governance in Resource-Rich Countries
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today announced Canada’s official support for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) on behalf of the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of International Cooperation and Minister for La Francophonie and Official Languages, and the Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources.
"Our goals are to reduce poverty, promote democracy and reduce the risk of conflict," said Minister Verner. "Initiatives like EITI support these goals and at the same time help to ensure a greater degree of transparency, which allows citizens to demand greater accountability from their governments."
Joint Development Zone Meeting
Minutes of the Meeting between Government Delegations of Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe to the third EITI Conference
Oslo, Norway (October 18, 2006)
Participants—Nigeria: Bright Okogu, Acting Executive Secretary, NEITI, Stan Rerri, NEITI, Maryam Idris-Uwais, NEITI; Sao Tome and Principe: Arlindo Carvalho, Deputy, National Assembly and Chair, Petroleum Commission, Luis Dos Prazeres, Executive Director, National Petroleum Agency, Ambrosio Quaresma, President, Sindicato Journalistas; World Bank: Eleodoro Mayorga-Alba, Allison Berg, and Anwar Ravat, Oil, Gas and Mining Policy Division; Moctar Mohamded El Hacen, Mauritania office.
At the invitation of the World Bank, a meeting took place on October 18, 2006 in Oslo, Norway among the delegations of the Governments of Nigeria and San Tome attending the EITI Conference. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss mechanisms for improving transparency in the petroleum operations in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) established between these two Governments. The JDZ is administered by the Joint Development Authority (JDA), which is ultimately accountable to the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC).
Participants agreed that the improvement of transparency should be through the EITI mechanism, including all petroleum revenues flows and licensing awarding processes. Since the JDA would require participation from both the Nigerian and Sao Tomean sides, participants agreed that selected members of the national EITI committees of Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe be designated to a joint EITI “subcommission,” which would focus on the JDZ. (The exact name of the joint body, e.g., subcommission, working party, task force, will be determined later.)
To ensure its legitimacy, the joint subcommission would get the political support of a JMC resolution inspired in the principles of the Abuja Declaration signed in 2003 by Presidents Obasanjo and Menezes. The joint subcommission would be responsible for reviewing the transparency of revenue reporting and licensing round practices in the JDZ, submitting regular reports to the respective EITI committees in Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe.
Currently, Nigeria has an advanced EITI process (NEITI), while Sao Tome and Principe needs to establish its own EITI national committee. Until the joint subcommission is created, participants agreed that officials from the both governments need to pay a closer attention to licensing in the JDZ. In this respect, the Governments of Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe agreed to have a joint post-mortem (review) of the second JDZ bid round in the form of an interactive session where the JDZ would be invited to make a presentation.
To fulfill its mandate the joint subcommission would have the authority to contract auditors, consultants, etc. While the joint subcommission will be responsible for looking at the totality of JDZ revenues, independently, the NEITI, once it receives the report of the joint subcommission, would naturally focus on the 60 percent of revenues Nigeria receives; while Sao Tome and Principe’s national EITI committee would focus on the 40 percent of revenues Sao Tome and Principe receives.
Participants were informed that the Government of Nigeria will host a West Africa EITI conference in Abuja in December 2006 so that governments interested in implementing EITI (e.g., Liberia, Sierra Leone, Niger) can learn from governments who are more advanced (e.g., Ghana, Nigeria). Participants agreed that Sao Tome should be invited to this workshop.
Next Steps: Participants agreed to meet again once Sao Tome and Principe has established its national EITI committee, so that arrangements for putting in place the joint EITI subcommission for the JDZ could move forward and the JMC resolution is prepared in consensus by the EITI committees of both parties.