EITI stands for Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Myanmar/Burma  is a resource rich country, rich in minerals, jewelry, forestry products, petroleum and Natural Gas and as SPDC Military Junta is mis-using our country’s wealth, most of the people in Myanmar are poor. I believe that this is a very good message and knowledge to give to our people.

In the interview with Burma Digest, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Former Prime Minister of Malaysia, said_

 “It saddens me that a country that is, that has tremendous potential, very very rich should actually remained poor, because the government has not worked out a solution that would benefit the people of Burma. Do you know, Burma is very rich, a lot of minerals, a lot of precious stones.

But wealth by itself, existence of wealth by itself, does not mean anything, until the wealth is mobilized.

So the government can, even if it is an authoritarian, it still can work hard for the people.”

George Soros (born August 12, 1930, in Budapest, Hungary) is an American financial speculator, stock investor, philanthropist and liberal political activist.

Currently, he is the chairman of Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute. The Burma Project was established OSI in 1994 for the purpose of increasing international awareness of conditions in Burma and helping the country make the transition from a closed to an open society.

His support for the Solidarity labour movement in Poland, as well as the Czechoslovakian human rights organization Charter 77, contributed to ending the Soviet Union’s rule in those nations. His funding and organization of Georgia’s Rose Revolution was considered by Russian and Western observers to have been crucial to its success. 

He recently went to Indonesia and campaigned there to take real action on Myanmar once Indonesia became the UNSC member in January 2007.

After that he visited Malaysia and pointed Petronas Twin Tower and mentioned about EITI.

The EITI supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the full publication and verification of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining.

 

‘Weak governance breeds corruption and poverty’

Many countries are rich in oil, gas, and minerals and studies have shown that when governance is good, these can generate large revenues to foster economic growth and reduce poverty.

However when governance is weak, they may instead cause poverty, corruption, and conflict – the so called “resource curse”.

The EITI aims to defeat this “curse” by improving transparency and accountability.

“Knowing what governments receive, and what companies pay, is critical first step to holding decision-makers accountable for the use of those revenues,” EITI says.

“Implementing EITI as part of a programme of improved governance will help to ensure that oil, gas, and mining revenues contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction.”

Corruption and political instability caused by the plundering of national wealth, and poverty, are two challenges facing companies and investors in the extractive industries. Supporting EITI in countries where they operate, it is reasoned, can help mitigate these investment risks, which in turn threatens investments which are often capital intensive and long-term in nature.

 

Civil society

Civil society can benefit from an increased amount of information in the public domain about those revenues that governments manage on behalf of citizens, thereby increasing accountability and improving transparency.

 

Which countries are implementing EITI?

Some twenty countries have either endorsed, or are now actively implementing EITI across the world – from Peru, to Trinidad and Tobago, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, and East Timor.

 

Who else is involved?

EITI is supported by an International Secretariat presently based in the UK’s Department for International Development. The Secretariat works closely with the World Bank and the IMF. In addition to the implementing governments, EITI is supported by donors; by many of the largest oil and mining companies in the world, as well as investors in those companies; and by different civil society groups who work under the umbrella of the Publish What You Pay Coalition and the Revenue Watch Institute.

 

EITI Priniciples and Criteria

1.       We share a belief that the prudent use of natural resource wealth should be an important engine for sustainable economic growth that contributes to sustainable development and poverty reduction, but if not managed properly, can create negative economic and social impacts.

2.       We affirm that management of natural resource wealth for the benefit of a country’s citizens is in the domain of sovereign governments to be exercised in the interests of their national development.

3.       We recognise that a public understanding of government revenues and expenditure over time could help public debate and inform choice of appropriate and realistic options for sustainable development.

4.       We underline the importance of transparency by governments and companies in the extractive industries and the need to enhance public financial management and accountability.

5.       We believe in the principle and practice of accountability by government to all citizens for the stewardship of revenue streams and public expenditure.

6.       We are committed to encouraging high standards of transparency and accountability in public life, government operations and in business,

7.       We believe that a broadly consistent and workable approach to the disclosure of payments and revenues is required, which is simple to undertake and to use.

8.       We believe that payments’ disclosure in a given country should involve all extractive industry companies operating in that country.

9.       In seeking solutions, we believe that all stakeholders have important and relevant contributions to make – including governments and their agencies, extractive industry companies, service companies, multilateral organisations, financial organisations, investors, and non-governmental organisations.

The EITI Criteria

1.       Regular publication of all material oil, gas and mining payments by companies to governments (“payments”) and all material revenues received by governments from oil, gas and mining companies (“revenues”) to a wide audience in a publicly  accessible, comprehensive and comprehensible manner.

2.       Where such audits do not already exist, payments and revenues are the subject of a credible, independent audit, applying international auditing standards.

3.       Payments and revenues are reconciled by a credible, independent administrator, applying international auditing standards and with publication of the administrator’s opinion regarding that reconciliation including discrepancies, should any be identified.

4.       This approach is extended to all companies including state-owned enterprises

5.       Civil society is actively engaged as a participant in the design, monitoring and evaluation of this process and contributes towards public debate.

6.       A public, financially sustainable work plan for all the above is developed by the host government, with assistance from the international financial institutions where required, including measurable targets, a timetable for implementation, and an assessment of potential capacity constraints.

http://www.eitransparency.org/section/abouteiti/principlescriteria

 

EITI Countries

Over 20 countries have committed to EITI principles and criteria since the EITI Lancaster House Conference in June 2003. Some countries are only beginning to launch the process, while others have published revenue and payments data.

 

Africa ·                                 Angola ·                                 Cameroon ·                                 Chad ·                                 Congo, Democratic Republic of ·                                 Congo, Republic of ·                                 Equatorial Guinea ·                                 Gabon ·                                 Ghana ·                                 Guinea ·                                 Mauritania ·                                 Niger ·                                 Nigeria ·                                 Sao Tome and Principe ·                                 Sierra Leone

Europe and Central Asia ·                                 Azerbaijan ·                                 Kazakhstan ·                                 Kyrgyz Republic East Asia and Pacific ·                                 Mongolia ·                                 Timor Leste Latin America and the Caribbean ·                                 Bolivia ·                                 Peru ·                                 Trinidad & Tobago

 

Benefits of EITI

Countries rich in natural resources such as oil, gas, and mining have tended to under-perform economically, have a higher incidence of conflict, and suffer from poor governance. These effects are not inevitable and it is hoped that by encouraging greater transparency in countries rich in these resources, some of the negative impacts can be mitigated.

Benefits for implementing countries include an improved investment climate by providing a clear signal to investors and the international financial institutions that the government is committed to greater transparency. EITI also assists in strengthening accountability and good governance, as well as promoting greater economic and political stability. This, in turn, can contribute to the prevention of conflict based around the oil, mining and gas sectors.

Benefits to companies and investors centre on mitigating political and reputation risks. Political instability caused by opaque governance is a clear threat to investments. In extractive industries, where investments are capital intensive and dependent on long-term stability to generate returns, reducing such instability is beneficial. Transparency of payments made to a government can also help to demonstrate the contribution that their investment makes to a country.

For further reading: www.eitransparency.org