Origins of EITI (Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative)

2002

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was launched in September 2002, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The EITI aims to ensure that the revenues from extractive industries contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction. It has been championed by the UK Department for International Development, and supported by the World Bank and the IMF. Transparency International made the following statement in June 2003 at a London conference:

"In many parts of the world, countries face the paradox whereby a great wealth of natural resources coexists with great poverty among the people. In short, the benefits of the extraction of natural resources are diverted to the enrichment of small corrupt elites. It is now recognized by an increasing number of stakeholders that the transparency of revenues generated form the oil, gas and mining industries has become a prerequisite for the equitable economic and social development in many resource-rich countries."

The conference also recognized the UK government efforts in bringing together representatives of governments, industry and civil society to work on the subject, in developing the necessary templates for data collection and aggregation and in building a considerably enhanced level of awareness of the issue around the world among both governments and the industries concerned; and searching for countries willing to pilot the EITI process.

2003

The G8 countries in June 2003 supported an intensified approach to transparency and made commitments to:

• Provide capacity building support where this is needed.
• Encourage governments and both private and state-owned companies to disclose their revenue flows and payments.
• Work with participating governments to achieve high standards of transparent public revenue management, including the processes for awarding contracts and concessions.

2005

A Statement of Principles of the EITI, agreed in March 2005, may be found here. Relevant source materials may be found through the following links:

• The EITI website
• The Department for International Development (Some of the source materials are available in English, Russian and French).
• World Bank Extractive Industries Review.
• The World Bank oil, gas and mining sector page (some of this material is available from the World Bank site in Russian and Spanish).
• The United Nations.
• The International Monetary Fund.

2006

In October 2006 the EITI conference created an international multistakeholder board to oversee the governance of EITI, and a full time secretariat.
The EITI conference also required that countries and companies that commit to participating in EITI be required to periodically validate their progress in meeting the international standard by submitting to independent third party validation of their performance.

2007

On September 26, the EITI Secretariat was formally opened in Oslo.

2008

A meeting in Accra, Ghana, agreed the validation methodology.
The EITI welcomed seven new Candidate Countries.
Côte d'Ivoire became the 23rd EITI Candidate Country.

2009

The 4th EITI Global Conference took place in Doha, Qatar, in February.
Azerbaijan completed its Validation and attained the status of being the first EITI Compliant Country.
In May, four new countries were admitted as EITI candidates. The total number of EITI implementing countries is now 30.
More extensive information about current developments is available from the EITI Secretariat site: click here.