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PWYP gathers pace in Australia! 

  On 10 June 2011 a wide range of civil society organisations gathered in Melbourne for a PWYP information and strategy development workshop. Hosted by long-time PWYP member Oxfam Australia, sessions included an introduction to PWYP, examination of national coalition case studies and a strategy brainstorm for the future of the campaign in Australia. The day closed with a real sense of momentum in the quest for greater openness in the oil and mining sector in Australia.
 

Currently, the campaign in Australia is developing on two exciting fronts. First, the government is expected to announce the launch of an EITI pilot in October. Indeed, Australia is already a supporting country to EITI and recently became one of its biggest donors. Australia, together with Canada, is in the fairly specific situation of being a country that is home to many large extractive companies, as well as being rich in its own natural resources. Implementing EITI would therefore have strong benefits for Australia itself and the addition of another OECD member would help make EITI a truly global initiative. Secondly, PWYP Australia is working to introduce financial reporting requirements – similar to Dodd-Frank – for extractive industries listed on the country’s stock exchange.             

New research argues the case for adopting the EITI in Vietnam 

Findings of a new research report, “The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Implementation Perspective of Vietnam” by Vietnamese NGO, Consultancy for Development (CODE), and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) suggests that there is strong stakeholder support for adopting the EITI in Vietnam in future.
 
The research sought to explore the current status of extractive industry transparency in Vietnam (including its legislative basis and policy framework), as well as surveying the perspectives of different stakeholder groups concerning implementation of the EITI.
 
Although there is a well-developed legal basis for governance of the mineral sector, including regulations for exploration, exploitation, processing and revenue/payment management, the study revealed that there is poor enforcement of the law, particularly with regards to financial liabilities in the extractive sector. Royalty evasion and illegal trading are thus commonplace.

In principle, the EITI is not contradictory with the policies of Vietnam. Rather, it could be a useful tool to help Vietnam institutionalize its policies in reality.
 
Interviews with representatives from government agencies, extractive companies and civil society organizations indicated that most were in agreement with the need for greater transparency and information disclosure within the extractive industry. Many of these enterprises also indicated their readiness to participate in the EITI.
 
For more information, read the report. 

Nouvelles du Cameroun

Les membres de la coalition camerounaise ont été très occupés ces derniers temps. La FOCARFE a organisé une formation de renforcement des capacités d’une durée de quatre semaines, qui a commencé le jeudi 23 juin. Cette série comporte trois volets : La gestion et droit de l’environnement ; la gestion des revenus et développement et la gouvernance. Le 30 juin 2011 RELUFA a organisé un atelier de restitution d’une étude sur la gestion des redevances minières.

La coalition camerounaise est aussi en plein dans les préparations de la 3ème édition de son magazine « En toute transparence ». Nous mettrons ce magazine sur notre site dès sa sortie. En attendant, vous lisez les anciens numéros ici et ici.
 

NGO Coalition calls for shake-up in the Azeri EITI

For several months, CSOs in Azerbaijan have been pressing for their concerns about the EITI process in Azerbaijan to be taken more seriously. The Coalition of NGOs for “Improving Transparency in the Extractive Industries in Azerbaijan”, which brings together more than 140 local NGOs, has developed several proposals to improve EITI reporting and take revenue transparency further. These include switching to disaggregated reporting, and making the EITI mandatory through the passage of national legislation, for example. All of their proposals have met with resistance from government and company stakeholders, though.
 

The situation came to a head following an EITI Multi-Stakeholder Group meeting in May, when CSOs issued a public statement concerning the stagnation of the Azeri EITI process. Their concerns were flagged at the international EITI Board meeting in Amsterdam (8th June), where the early revalidation of Azerbaijan was brought into question.
 

The next MSG meeting is scheduled for September 2011, when changes to the Azeri Memorandum of Understanding on EITI will be discussed. Observers to the process are watching closely, to assess whether there is real will to make the Azeri EITI more meaningful.
 

Read the press statement made by the Azeri coalition

The Natural Resource Charter conference

On June 29-30, the 3^rd annual conference of the Natural Resource Charter (NRC) annual conference was held in Oxford,  bringing together experts in economically sustainable resource extraction from around the world.  The Charter is a set of 12 principles for governments and societies on how to best harness the opportunities created by natural resources for development. 
 

Many leading experts shared their experiences, such as former Mexican Finance Minister Andres Velasco and the Minister of Mines for Afghanistan, Minister Shahrani, before the detail of the Charter was discussed in detail in technical workshops the following day.
 

The Charter is a living document and the team developing it welcome comments and case studies. Last week’s conference focused in particular on elaborating the ‘Level 3s’, which are the more detailed technical discussions of the underlying issues for each of the 12 precepts.

To read more about the Level 3 developments, contact the Charter team, and to sign up to their mailing list, please visit www.naturalresourcecharter.org.

The future of EITI

The EITI recently set up a new Working Group for its international board members to look at the strategic options for the EITI in future. This is an important moment in the history of the EITI because it is an opportunity to start widening the scope of the initiative beyond its current focus on revenue flows. To make the most of this, however, the civil society board members will need to come up with specific proposals, detailing what should be added to the scope of the EITI and why.

 Although the debates about the EITI’s future will be ongoing (any major changes to the EITI rules are unlikely to be agreed until the next EITI Conference in 2013), it is important to feed in the civil society priorities early on, as it may be difficult to introduce them into the discussion later.

 If you have ideas, please contact your CSO Board representative, or send your submissions to PWYP to send on. We would need to have these by 1st August 2011.

 Please visit our site for a list of questions to guide your submission.
 

Le futur de l’ITIE

C'est un moment important dans l'histoire de l'ITIE, car nous avons la possibilité de commencer à élargir la portée de l'initiative au-delà de son accent mis actuellement sur les flux de revenus. Cependant, pour le mieux profiter de cette occasion, nous devons créer des propositions précises, détaillant ce qui devrait être ajouté à la portée de l'ITIE et pourquoi.
 

Les débats concernant le futur de l’ITIE seront continue (il est peu probables que les règles de l’ITIE soient sensiblement changés avant la prochaine conférence ITIE, en février/mars 2013), mais il est important d’offrir les priorités de la société civile maintenant, car il pourrait être difficile de les introduire ultérieurement.
 

Si vous avez des idées, veuillez contacter  votre représentant  sur le conseil d’administration (voir ici) ou envoyez les à PCQVP. La date butoir pour les soumissions est le 1 août 2011.

Veuillez visiter notre site pour une liste de questions pour guider vos soumissions.

Job Opps 

Revenue Watch - Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator 

The Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator is responsible for the development and implementation of Revenue Watch’s strategy of engagement in the region. This includes conducting assessments of the current environment and opportunities for impact, and considering how to best to leverage and apply RWI’s approaches, such as strengthening support to civil society and initiating research, grant-making, advocacy and technical assistance projects in new countries in consultation with RWI senior staff and management.

Deadline: August 1, 2011

For more information and how to apply click here