Transparency watchdog to hold final leg of consultations in G/T today

Jul 20, 2017 News

After hosting community outreaches in several districts across Guyana, the local transparency watchdog, the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI), will be hosting its final leg of consultations in Georgetown today.
The entity would have already visited Corriverton, Bartica, Linden and Charity.
Today’s session will be held at the Marian Academy auditorium at 17:00hrs.
These consultations would come at a time when Guyana is aiming to submit its candidature application to become an EITI candidate country in August.
The EITI is an international standard for openness around the governance of oil, gas, mineral and other natural resources. Governments disclose how much they receive from extractive companies operating in their country and these companies disclose how much they pay. Governments that sign up to implement the EITI Standard must meet its requirements.
The EITI Standard is applied to eight areas of implementation which includes: effective oversight by a Multi-Stakeholder Group; legal and institutional framework (fiscal regime, license allocation, registries, contracts, beneficial ownership, state participation); exploration and production activities; revenue collections; revenue allocations; social and economic spending; outcomes and impact; and compliance and deadlines for implementing countries.
Guyana must meet criteria within these areas before it can be considered an EITI compliant country.
The GYEITI Secretariat, Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) and the Carter Center Country Representative would have already met with business owners, indigenous leaders, community leaders, officials and students, where they were provided with an insight to the EITI and explained why it is important to have their feedback and involvement as Guyana commits to creating better mechanisms and systems for greater transparency and accountability.
At the various outreaches, presentations were made by Dr Rudy Jadoopat, National Coordinator, GYEITI; Mr Rod Henson, Mr. Hilbert Shields and Mr. Patrick Harding.
In his presentations, Dr Jadoopat explained that EITI will bring benefits to not only Government, but also to civil society and industry – the three sectors comprising the Multi-Stakeholder Group. He provided a status update on Guyana’s EITI application submission process.
There is every expectation that Guyana is poised to become an EITI Candidate Country before the end of 2017 as the extensive work to satisfy the comprehensive list of requirements to make Guyana eligible to submit its application is being successfully completed by the tripartite Multi-Stakeholder Group and the GYEITI National Secretariat.
Advocates of EITI argue that companies will have a stronger social licence to operate locally. This will lead to better relations with communities and Government.
For companies, the EITI could promote better understanding of company activities and mitigate political risk and public discontent. This is necessary in order to safeguard assets and pave the way for further investments. It could also be a catalyst for developing local capacity and infrastructure.
The EITI’s benefits to civil society will come from increasing the amount of information in the public domain about the revenues that governments manage on behalf of citizens, thereby potentially promoting more accountable governance.
Benefits for Government include an improved investment climate by providing a clear signal to investors and international financial institutions that the government is committed to greater transparency.
EITI also assists in strengthening licensing, record keeping and tax collection systems, and legal and fiscal frameworks for a relatively low cost.
The EITI could also promote greater economic and political stability which can prevent conflicts in the extractive industries.

Latest News

Transparency watchdog to hold final leg of consultations in G/T today

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Welcome and Sattaur hat-tricks power West Ruimvelt’s emphatic win

Mominul, Jaker help Bangladesh avoid follow on

Rutherford’s stunning century in vain as...

Bentick’s hat-trick lifts YMCA to $1M and...

Final batch of tickets for opening match released

NSC to host National Awards Ceremony on Thursday

Features/Columnists

The business class also funds undemocratic parties

Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all

Too many sharks too close for comfort

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Transparency watchdog to hold final leg of consultations in G/T today

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]