EITI in the News
Norway submitted its application to become an EITI Candidate country on 18 December 2008. Subject to EITI Board, Norway will become the first OECD country to become an EITI implementing country. Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian Minister of Oil and Energy said "By now moving from supporting the EITI to also implementing it, we hope to contribute towards the EITI becoming the globally recognised transparency standard for the extractive industry."
The EITI Secretariat and the African Development Bank co-hosted a Mediterranean EITI Roundtable in Tunis 25-26 November, chaired by Peter Eigen and addressed by AFDB President, Donald Kaberuka. It provided a platform for senior government and company representatives from North African countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Sudan) to meet with Northern partners (France, Italy, Spain, Norway).
Welcome to a new edition of the EITI Newsletter. The main story is that Central African Republic is now a Candidate Country. In addition, it contains an update from Cameroon, and the Conference.
The United States and the international community must do more to prevent mismanagement and corruption in developing countries newly enriched by oil export revenues, according to a new Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff report.
The gold mining company Oxus Gold is the 39th extractive company to become an international-level EITI Supporting Company.
The primary operations of Oxus Gold are inside Uzbekistan, where it has a 50% stake in the Amantaytau Goldfields JV (AGF) which is located in the Kyzylkum region of Uzbekistan. Total AGF ‘Proven and Probable’ reserves were 2,839,000 ozs of gold and 6,739,000 ozs of silver (of which half are attributable to Oxus), under JORC classification.
29-30 October the EITI Board met in Athens, Greece. The Board discussed the implementation of the initiative in each Candidate country and their progress towards validation, agreed on the Workplan for 2009, and prepared for the EITI Global Conference in Doha 16-18 February 2009. Minutes will soon be made available on this website.
13 EITI implementing countries are part of the the International Organisation of La Francophonie, OIF, which brings together 70 countries around the French language. The OIF has recommended the use of the EITI as an international standard of transparency. This recommendation was adopted at the twelfth OIF summit that was held 17-19 October 2008 in Quebec.
L’Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, OIF, qui regroupe 56 pays membres et 14 observateurs ayant en commun la langue française, a recommandé l'utilisation de l'ITIE comme norme internationale de transparence lors de son XIIe sommet entre le 17 et 19 octobre 2008 à Québec.
Critical Resource, a specialist firm providing advice on sustainability and stakeholder issues, has on their site a 60 second Q&A with Jonas Moberg, Head of the EITI Secretariat.
"Despite the persistence of Africa’s natural and man-made horrors, the latest trend is cheeringly positive", The Economist writes in a Leader article. Further it writes: "Another promising new mechanism is the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, a voluntary code that a score of African countries have adopted, with governments and foreign firms accounting openly for their dealings."
Conference website
Compliant Countries
To become Compliant, the country needs to complete validation process and meet all of the Validation Indicators. All Candidate countries must complete validation within two years.
Candidate Countries
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