Monday 28 April 2014

Myanmar to submit for EITI membership

The Myanmar government is applying for membership of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and will submit its application in the first week of May.

EITI is a global coalition of governments, companies and civil society working together to improve openness and accountable management of revenues from natural resources.

“In first week of May we will submit our application to the EITI International Secretariat. Reforming can be done when they give their comments. Later the EITI Board will decide whether Myanmar is recognised as a member or not,” said Min Zar Ni Lin, from the Myanmar EITI Cooperation Office.

EITI member countries implement the EITI Standard to ensure full disclosure of taxes and other payments made by oil, gas and mining companies to governments.

This is based on the idea that a country’s citizens must be able to benefit from a country’s natural resources. Therefore payments are disclosed in an annual report that allows citizens to see for themselves how much their government is receiving from companies involved in mining, oil and gas or other extractive industries.

To become a member EITI, the government needs to explain clearly how it aims to implement EITI standards of transparency and accountability around the extraction of natural resources such as oil, gas, minerals and even timber.

This must be done in full cooperation with private companies, civil society and government bodies.

At present, 23 countries around the world follow the EITI Standard and 16 are members of EITI. For EITI member countries, citizens must be able to enjoy the benefits of the country’s resources.

source: Eleven Myanmar

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