The Publish What You Pay (PWYP) coalition of over 220 NGOs worldwide1 welcomes the progress that has been made on promoting transparency in the oil, gas and mining industries worldwide since last year’s G8 summit. However, serious concerns remain about the effectiveness of the G8 member states’ voluntary approach to transparency, and the lack of proper and meaningful follow-up efforts to fulfil commitments made in Evian

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The Commission for Africa should endorse the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Publish What You Pay as approaches for tackling the problems associated with the extractive industries in Nigeria

“The Publish What You Pay (PWYP) coalition of over 110 NGOs strongly welcomes the inclusion of extractive industries transparency on the agenda at the G8 Summit in Evian. The French Government has proposed to focus on the broad theme of the financial, social and ethical responsibility of governments and corporations in which transparency will be addressed..”

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Washington D.C. – It is a sad and perverse paradox of today’s global economy that some of the very wealthiest developing countries are also the very poorest. Countries possessing an abundance of diamonds, gold, oil, gas and exotic minerals can barely feed, clothe, let alone educate, the bulk of their populations which suffer among the highest infant mortality rates and shortest average life span in the world. War and civil strife, not peace, are the norm in many of these resource- rich but troubled areas.

Revenue Transparency: A Priority for Good Governance and Energy Security

Across the globe, revenues from oil, gas and mining that should be funding sustainable economic development have been misappropriated and mismanaged. This Global Witness report considers five major examples of this problem: Kazakhstan, Congo Brazzaville, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nauru.

In these countries, governments do not provide even basic information about their revenues from natural resources. Nor do oil, mining and gas companies publish any information about payments made to governments.

Considerable progress on improving revenue transparency has been made since the launch of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) in 2002

Considerable progress on improving revenue transparency has been made since the launch of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) in 2002

As institutional investors with exposure to companies operating around the world, we believe it is in the interest of the companies in which we invest to operate in a business environment that is characterised by stability, transparency and respect for the rule of law. These factors are essential to securing economic prosperity and social cohesion, which, in turn, enable the companies in which we invest to prosper.

What international institutions, other than international financial institutions, does PWYP focus on?

United Nations

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on “Strengthening transparency in industries” on September 11. It emphasises that transparency and accountability should be embraced and promoted by all its member states and notes the efforts of countries participating in the EITI.

Oil and gas companies have generated enormous wealth. But rather than improving the lives of ordinary people, these revenues have often fuelled wars and corruption, weakened economic development and worsened poverty.