Extractive industries transparency in Azerbaijan theme of OSCE-supported discussion

BAKU, 24 September 2013 – An OSCE-supported meeting focusing on Azerbaijan’s compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a mechanism for disclosing oil and gas industry earnings to improve the transparency and accountability of public finance management, took place in Baku today.

Azerbaijan was among the first countries to endorse the Initiative in 2003, and the first country that received a compliant status from the International EITI Board in 2009.

Representatives of the relevant state agencies, international organizations, private companies and civil society organizations gathered to discuss new EITI standards and ways to overcome the obstacles to their implementation. 

Deputy Head of the OSCE Office in Baku, Monica Martinez underlined the OSCE’s interest in supporting this initiative: “The OSCE Declaration on Good Governance adopted at the Dublin Ministerial Council in 2012 recognized the importance of the extractive industries transparency. This year, the Ukrainian Chairmanship has also defined sustainable energy as one of its key priorities, and the Initiative is therefore of particular relevance,” she added.

The OSCE Office in Baku co-ordinated the organization of today’s event with Azerbaijan’s State Oil Fund, Revenue Watch Institute and the Association for Free Economy, the co-ordinator for the EITI NGO Coalition. The Office also provided an expert contribution to the analysis of EITI implementation status between Azerbaijan and other compliant countries.