Mr. Artyom Mesropyan, representative of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, participated in the conference on the first country report of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
Representatives of the Government of Armenia, mining companies, civil society, the Delegation of the International Secretariat of the Transparency Initiative of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the governments of other member states and international partner organizations took part in the conference.
The first EITI Country Report of Armenia was presented at the conference. It is one of the most important results of the introduction of the standard, which was preceded by capacity building measures, long-term research, legislative changes, and so on.
According to the EITI standard, government agencies and mining companies have provided public reports on the basis of which the EITI country report summarizes the payments made by companies to the government, as well as state revenues, mineral resources in the mining industry, production, domestic sales and export information.
Panel discussions were also held on the EITI’s convergent roles and the future systematic data disclosure, the identification of beneficial owners, as well as the responsible mining industry.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global standard that promotes open and accountable management of natural resources. The EITI’s goal is to create more transparent and accountable state and business systems, and to promote public dialogue, thereby guaranteeing mutual understanding between the parties.
The most important feature of the EITI is the formation and functioning of a decision-making trilateral body, a multi-stakeholder group (MSG). The first composition of the Armenian MSG was set up in 2016, consisting of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, mining companies and civil society representatives, whose decisions are adopted by common consensus.
The EITI membership application, officially submitted by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, has been approved at the 9 October, 2017 EITI Board meeting in Bogota. Once the country has become a candidate, it has to publish its first EITI Country Report within the timeframe set by the EITI Board.
