EITI

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The international civil society coalition Publish What You Pay welcomed today’s U.S. commitment to participate in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to increase transparency in oil, mining and gas revenues collected from U.S.

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Publish What You Pay Australia is calling on the Australian Government to follow the lead of other countries in our region by committing to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

On 10 June 2011 a wide range of civil society organisations gathered in Melbourne for a PWYP information and strategy development workshop. Hosted by long time PWYP member Oxfam Australia, sessions included an introduction to PWYP, examination of national coalition case studies and a strategy brainstorm for the future of the campaign in Australia. The day closed with a real sense of momentum in the quest for greater openness in the oil and mining sector in Australia.

Currently, the campaign in Australia is developing across two very exciting fronts.

The OSCE Summit that ended December 2 in Astana missed an opportunity to promote good governance of the oil, gas and mining industries by failing to endorse the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in its Summit Declaration, a global civil society transparency network said today.

“It is extremely disappointing that Kazakhstan, as the OSCE Chairman and Summit host, was unable to get political backing for the EITI, which the country is itself implementing to bring transparency and good governance into its massive energy and mining sectors,” said Radhika Sarin, International Coordinator of the Publish What You Pay network. “The EITI is based on the values supposedly shared by OSCE States, including respect for civil society, and is an example of effective and constructive cooperation between different stakeholders. This could have been an easy yet significant win for every OSCE member.”

This week Norway, the first OECD country to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), took an important step by publicly releasing its first EITI report disclosing all payments of taxes and fees made by oil companies to the government in 2008.

PWYP Norway coordinator Mona Thowsen congratulated Norway at the launch event and encouraged “all resource rich countries, including other OECD countries to engage meaningfully in the EITI tripartite process…”

With EITI announcement, Iraqi leaders make historic investment in national and regional stability

The Revenue Watch Institute today congratulated the Government of Iraq as it joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, taking a historic step toward the efficient and open management of its oil industry.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced Iraq’s EITI participation Sunday at a formal launch event in Baghdad attended by government leaders, members of Iraqi civil society and international groups, including the Revenue Watch Institute and the World Bank.

An excellent film produced by Andrew Weir and Christopher Walker for Al Jazeera's People and Power series which looks at how revenues from Congo Brazzaville's natural resources have been spent on luxuries by the president's family despite most of the population living on less than a dollar a day. The film features PWYP campaigners Christian Mounzeo from Congo-based Rencontre pour la Paix et les Droits de l'Homme and Gavin Hayman from Global Witness.

London: Publish What You Pay (PWYP)* welcomes the news that Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has signed a new transparency law which increases accountability over the management of the country’s natural resources.

Approved on 10 July 2009, the LEITI Act seeks to ensure that the benefits due to the government and people of Liberia from the exploitation of natural resources are “verifiably paid or provided; duly accounted for; and prudently utilized for the benefits of all Liberians….”

Transparency in the extractive industries was very much on the agenda in Washington DC during the week 11-15 May. The World Bank and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) held sessions on sub-national implementation of EITI and working with civil society to ensure EITI is implemented successfully.

14-15 May saw the convening of the 9th EITI Board which accepted Albania, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Zambia as EITI Candidate countries.

PWYP member the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) held its own event on how transit revenues could potentially be included in the framework of EITI. RWI followed events closely and posted regular updates here, including contributions from EITI board member Anthony Richter who was busy blogging on how the week unfolded.

During the 2009 EITI Global Conference in Doha a video was screened called EITI - Making resources work for people. It gives a good overview of EITI from the perspective of all stakeholders in the process.