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).

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Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo might be one of the world’s richest countries in natural resources, but its population ranks among the poorest with four out of five citizens living on less than 30 cents a day.

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.

Publish What You Pay (PWYP) congratulates the Rt. Hon. Clare Short on her appointment as Chair of the EITI Board, as well as all of the representatives of governments, civil society and the private sector who will serve on the EITI Board 2011-2013.

Publish What You Pay, the global civil society coalition, today urged the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to take bold steps to ensure it remains robust and meaningful over the next two years.

Speaking at the opening of the fifth EITI Global Conference in Paris, France, PWYP International Coordinator Radhika Sarin said: “The EITI has been a ground-breaking initiative which has put revenue transparency firmly on the agenda, but it now needs to embrace changes which will ensure that transparency leads to true accountability.”

The board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) today considered the status of 18 countries which were unable to meet the deadline they were given in 2008 to complete external verification of their progress under the global transparency initiative.

The EITI board rejected the option of granting a blanket extension to all countries in recognition of the need to maintain its credibility as an initiative that respects its own rules. Instead, the board granted an extension to 16 countries following a case-by-case review which teased out the specific difficulties countries have faced in meeting the deadline. Countries were granted an extension if these difficulties were judged to be exceptional and unforeseen.

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.

Publish What You Pay has congratulated all stakeholders in Liberia’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) following the country’s designation by the EITI Board as EITI ‘Compliant’ on 14 October 2009.

Liberia becomes the first African country to be validated as Compliant under the rules and principles of the EITI, a global framework for increased transparency in the oil, gas and mining sectors which champions dialogue between government, civil society and the private sector.