The Africa EITI Conference on Beneficial Ownership Transparency had a powerful opening on Wednesday 31 October, with speeches from HE Macky Sall, President of Senegal and HE Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone, as well as other high-level government officials. The range of the parallel session topics varied from illicit financial flows to politically exposed persons.
Nine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) implementing countries in the Anglophone and Lusophone region of Africa met in Abuja in early November to plan for the implementation of beneficial ownership (BO) disclosures. At the center of the discussion was the painstaking process of planning how to reveal who stands behind oil, gas and mining companies. Ben Mellor, the UK DFID country representative to Nigeria,
The challenge now is to turn the outrage into change.
Beneficial ownership and review of contracts as key areas for the EITI in Afghanistan
What role does the EITI play in revealing hidden owners?
The EITI is a standard for countries with oil, gas and minerals. The 51 EITI countries require all companies extracting oil, gas and minerals to publish what they pay in taxes and royalties and the government commits itself to publish what it receives, including other key information about the sector. The findings from early implementation concluded that such reporting was a good start, but that it was not enough.
A register with who actually owns and controls companies in the UK will be publicly available for citizens.
Key conference facts2.5 days250+ participants30+ countries 40+ organisations60+ experts10 technical sessions
The Opening up Ownership Africa conference was the largest gathering of beneficial ownership transparency practitioners yet.
Conference co-host and keynote speaker, President of Senegal, HE Macky Sall started by highlighting action on past commitments
Harnessing the potential of the extractive sector
Programme in English and FrenchKey take-aways (powerpoint slides PDF News item and
Ghana, Indonesia, Ukraine and United Kingdom also honoured
Chair of the EITI, Fredrik Reinfeldt, today announced the winner of the 2017 EITI Chair’s Award for Beneficial Ownership Transparency at the EITI ‘Opening Up Ownership Conference’ in Jakarta.
The winner was Kyrgyzstan for its new mining law, which requires companies to disclose their beneficial owners when they apply for a license. The law includes a clear definition of ownership,
"This Conference is a milestone in the global fight against corruption. I am proud that the EITI’s member countries have committed to ensure that the ownership of the oil, gas and mining companies that operate in their countries will be open for anyone to see." - Fredrik Reinfeldt, EITI Chair
See more of the Beneficial Ownership Conference's speeches, sessions, blogs, and other outcomes here