Guyana officially candidate of EITI

Guyana’s application to become a part of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has been accepted, making the country the 53rd candidate.

EITI is a global standard that promotes transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining sectors.  It has a robust methodology for disclosing and reconciling company payments and government revenues in implementing countries.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, the application was accepted during the 38th Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Board Meeting which is being held in Manila, Philippines. The meeting is being attended by National Coordinator of the Guyana EITI Secretariat,Dr Rudy Jadoopat, and Co-Chair of the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) representing Civil Society,Mr Curtis Bernard.

“This is a signal achievement for all Guyana as it strengthens the good governance framework that the APNU/AFC coalition government has committed to establishing for the extractive industries sector and beyond,” the statement said.

Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman was quoted as saying: “I see this as the fruit of an inclusive and committed process of shared governance…a process in which Government, Industry and Civil Society have workedtogether to deliver a nationally beneficial result. I congratulate all stakeholders who worked assiduously to ensure a timely submission of the application that met the EITI Secretariat’s standards and expectations.”

Guyana now has 18 months to publish its first EITI report with information relevant to the extractive sector. That report will be prepared by an independent administrator, the Ministry said.

Once a country becomes a member of EITI it must be assessed against the EITI Standard in a process called Validation which reviews the country’s progress against the EITI Requirements, evaluates the impact, and makes recommendations for strengthening and improving the governance of the natural resources sector. The country is re-assessed anywhere between three months and three years depending on the outcome of its Validation.

The Secretariat is imploring all citizens, Government officials and companies to visit the Guyana EITI website at gyeiti.org where they will find Guyana’s work plan, Guyana’s candidature application and a list of members of Guyana’s Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) among other details.

The Government made a commitment towards EITI on May 4, 2010, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with EITI on May 15, 2012 and established the Guyana EITI National Secretariat in December 2016.

On August 18, 2017, the Government formally submitted its application to become a candidate country of the EITI following the completion of several sign-up steps.