A Second International Conference of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Took Place in Issyk-Kul Province

A Second International Conference of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Took Place in Issyk-Kul Province

published: 17 June 2011

A Second International Conference of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Took Place in Issyk-Kul Province

A second EITI international conference, “After Validation: Looking Into the Future of EITI”, took place at Cholpon-Ata, June, 13-16, 2011.

Participating in the conference were representatives of Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Tajikistan. For three days, the participants were exchanging experience and discussing the hurdles they had to clear. The conference guests admitted that the EITI-related legislation in their countries was not as perfect as that in Kyrgyzstan. The speakers agreed that openness and transparency were good things to champion.

“Openness and transparency would enable miners to establish a dialogue with civil society and government authorities. Both local communities and the rest of the population should be well informed as to the contribution the enterprises make to the economic development. This would be mutually advantageous both to us and the state,” said Kumtor Operating Company Vice-President, Government and Public Relations, Andrey Sazanov. “We were among the initiators of the Initiative in Kyrgyzstan, who started publishing the results of KOC’s production activities. No sooner had the company joined EITI and become open than a number of issues that previously haunted us were settled there and then. The Transparency Initiative is what should be certainly given a boost. In the long run, the local authorities should follow suit and provide explanations regarding their expenditures for the general public, just as companies do now.”

The international conference closed with the participants adopting a resolution to reaffirm their commitment to EITI principles and underline their intention to facilitate sustainable progress for greater extractive industries transparency in the interests of their nations.