Congo and Burkina Faso accepted as 'EITI Compliant'
Congo and Burkina Faso accepted as 'EITI Compliant'
From the left: Christian Mounzeo (Vice President of the EITI Executive Committee, Congo), Clare Short (EITI Chair) and Florent Michel Okoko (Chairman of the Executive Committee, Congo)
The Republic of the Congo and Burkina Faso were yesterday declared ‘Compliant’ with the EITI standard at the meeting of the EITI Board in Oslo.
This means that the countries have functioning processes for annual disclosure and reconciliation of all government revenues from oil, gas and mining. These figures, compiled in EITI Reports, allow citizens of those countries to see how much their governments receive from natural resources.
For the first time, over half of the implementing countries are now 'EITI Compliant'.
Tool for improving management of Congo's natural resources
The National Coordinator of EITI Congo, Florent Michel Okoko, said that oil provided a major share of the government revenues.
“In a country like Congo, where 90% of the government's income comes from natural resources, how can we best govern these revenues? That is by having EITI.”
“EITI is an important tool for the parliament to be able to compare what the companies say they have paid and what the government has actually received.”
“It's a way of seeing the management of natural resources such as oil, gas and minerals, and in Congo, soon forestry as well,” Mr Okoko added.
The Congo also has gold and other mineral resources. Since the crises of 1997 and 1998, the recovery of oil prices has helped to revive Congo's economy.
To learn more about EITI in the Congo, please visit www.eiti.org/Congo
Gabon 'delisted', Sierra Leone, Mauritania and Yemen 'suspended'
The EITI Board agreed to delist Gabon, meaning that the country is no longer recognised as an EITI implementing country. Gabon had failed to submit an EITI Validation report by the agreed deadline. The Board agreed to delist Gabon in accordance with the EITI Rules.
The Board also agreed to temporarily suspended Sierra Leone, Mauritania and Yemen.
Sierra Leone had completed its second validation exercise by the agreed deadline. The report documented significant progress, but also several technical issues that needed to be addressed in order to achieve compliance. The Board agreed to temporarily suspend rather than delist Sierra Leone, to allow a period to undertake further corrective actions.
The Board also reiterated the importance of timely EITI reporting. Mauritania had not yet produced a 2010 EITI Report as required by EITI Rules (requirement 5(e)), and was temporarily suspended. Yemen had not yet produced their 2008 and 2009 as agreed when a previous suspension was lifted. Yemen was also temporarilysuspended. In both cases the Board agreed that the suspension would be lifted if the outstanding reports are published by 30 June 2013.
EITI implementation in these countries has been supported financially by the EITI Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), which is managed by the World Bank.
The respective country pages contain further information about these decisions. For questions, comments, interview requests, please contact Communications Manager Anders Kråkenes.
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