President Humala: transparency and EITI needed to 'heal the wounds' in Peru

LIMA, PERU 26 June 2012  -  President of Peru, Ollanta Humala, spoke today about how transparency is needed to "heal the wounds" of Peru’s mining sector. He emphasised the role of Peru's EITI in healing these wounds and building a foundation for future development.

Peru's EITI ensures that citizens can see how much the government is receiving from the companies extracting Peru's natural resources. Peru became "Compliant" with the global EITI standard earlier this year, as the first country in Latin America.

Over 200 participants heard the President speak about this when he today opened an EITI conference in Lima titled "Open Government and Transparency in Extractive Industries in Latin America and the Caribbean" which is co-hosted by Peru's government, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the EITI.

EITI Chairperson, Clare Short, welcomed senior participants from 15 Latin American countries, including Guatemala, and Trinidad and Tobago, which are already implementing the EITI. She noted Colombia's recent commitment to implement. While congratulating Peru on achieving compliance and on using the process to cover subnational transfers, she cautioned that progress must not stop there. She said that the impact of the EITI can only be sustained by going deeper to address the concerns of citizens.

The latest Peruvian EITI Report showed that the government received over US$ 5 billion in 2010, about six times as much as in 2004 when Peru started disclosing the figures. Over 60% of the revenue came from the mining sector, but the government also received well over US$ 1 billion from oil and gas. Across Latin America, revenues from the extractives sector has increased twenty times in the past decade.

The Conference is followed by the meeting of the international EITI Board on 27-28 June.

Notes to Editors

• Media enquiries can be addressed to Communications Manager Anders Tunold Kråkenes at the EITI International Secretariat, +47 4666 2888 or akrakenes@eiti.org.

• Ms Short was elected Chair of the international EITI Board in March 2011. Ms Short was the UK Secretary of State for International Development (1997-2003). Her bio is available at http://eiti.org/cshort.