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An international advisory group has been formed to expand the scope of
the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and to work out how
to monitor its effectiveness.
The EITI, a three-year-old coalition of governments, companies and civil society organizations, is seeking to open up the revenue arrangements of oil, gas and mining companies in developing countries to greater public scrutiny at a time of record oil prices.
It has attracted widespread corporate support and a concrete commitment on transparency from ten governments since it was started by British prime minister Tony Blair in 2002. But the UK government now wants it to exert more influence.
International development minister Gareth Thomas said: 'The EITI has come a long way ... [but] the time is right for it to develop into a genuinely international initiative, and that is why we have established this group.'
The group of about a dozen of corporate and governmental representatives will be chaired by Peter Eigen, founder and chairman of the anti-corruption non-governmental organization Transparency International. His brief is to 'internationalize the leadership of the initiative, and to consider how to clearly determine which countries are, and are not, implementing the initiative'.
The group will also consider how the EITI can promote clearer transparency rules for companies and governments, how to establish a way of monitoring disclosure in various countries, and how to reward nations that audit their payments and make full disclosure. It will make recommendations on all these matters at an international conference in 2006. It may also consider how to expand the initiative beyond the extractive sector, which was suggested last year by the Africa Commission.
Four companies - Anglo American, BP, Chevron and F&C Asset Management - will serve on the advisory group, and there will be representatives from the Central African Bishops Conference, Global Witness and the governments of Azerbaijan, France, Nigeria, Norway and the US. The group's secretariat will be provided by the UK government's international development department with help from the World Bank and the IMF.
Leaders of the G8 nations agreed at their latest meeting to increase support to the EITI and countries implementing its principles. In their final communique on Africa they called on resource-rich African countries to implement the initiative and for the World Bank, the IMF and regional development banks to support them.
High oil prices were at present making the EITI's work harder because they are 'making everyone more greedy', Eigen said.
The EITI, a three-year-old coalition of governments, companies and civil society organizations, is seeking to open up the revenue arrangements of oil, gas and mining companies in developing countries to greater public scrutiny at a time of record oil prices.
It has attracted widespread corporate support and a concrete commitment on transparency from ten governments since it was started by British prime minister Tony Blair in 2002. But the UK government now wants it to exert more influence.
International development minister Gareth Thomas said: 'The EITI has come a long way ... [but] the time is right for it to develop into a genuinely international initiative, and that is why we have established this group.'
The group of about a dozen of corporate and governmental representatives will be chaired by Peter Eigen, founder and chairman of the anti-corruption non-governmental organization Transparency International. His brief is to 'internationalize the leadership of the initiative, and to consider how to clearly determine which countries are, and are not, implementing the initiative'.
The group will also consider how the EITI can promote clearer transparency rules for companies and governments, how to establish a way of monitoring disclosure in various countries, and how to reward nations that audit their payments and make full disclosure. It will make recommendations on all these matters at an international conference in 2006. It may also consider how to expand the initiative beyond the extractive sector, which was suggested last year by the Africa Commission.
Four companies - Anglo American, BP, Chevron and F&C Asset Management - will serve on the advisory group, and there will be representatives from the Central African Bishops Conference, Global Witness and the governments of Azerbaijan, France, Nigeria, Norway and the US. The group's secretariat will be provided by the UK government's international development department with help from the World Bank and the IMF.
Leaders of the G8 nations agreed at their latest meeting to increase support to the EITI and countries implementing its principles. In their final communique on Africa they called on resource-rich African countries to implement the initiative and for the World Bank, the IMF and regional development banks to support them.
High oil prices were at present making the EITI's work harder because they are 'making everyone more greedy', Eigen said.
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