EITI Chairman, Dr Peter Eigen met with the Iraqi Deputy Prime, Dr Barham Ahmad Salih, and the Minister for Oil, Hussain Ibrahim Saleh al-Shahristani, in Baghdad on 6 October. The Ministers reaffirmed their strong commitment to the initiative and their intent to progress towards revenue transparency by publishing monthly reports of their oil revenue.
Ministers Salih and al-Shahristani confirmed their appointment of Ms Nihad Ahmed Mousa as the national EITI coordinator. Dr Eigen, accompanied by EITI Regional Director Mr Eddie Rich, met with Ms Mousa who is the Director-General in the Ministry of Oil.
Massive challenges face the Government of Iraq (currently third from bottom in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index). Security, political and regional tensions (especially around the oil sector), and low government capacity, all make the initiative both more difficult, but also more important, to implement. This point was reinforced by the members of international community and civil society with whom Dr Eigen and Mr Rich also met.
The World Bank has offered to provide technical support to help Iraq to put together an implementation workplan.
For more information about the implementation of the EITI in Iraq, contact Regional Director Eddie Rich.
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