NGO consortium launched in Kyrgyzstan to monitor EITI

The Constituent Assembly was held to establish civil society Consortium for Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) promotion. Number of non-governmental and public organizations has decided to join their efforts in EITI principles promotion and increasing public awareness on EITI performance in Kyrgyz Republic. The Working Group has been established to conduct activities coordination between General Assembly meetings.

EITI performance aimed on disclosure of economic benefits from the extractive industry and improving revenue management was started in Kyrgyzstan last spring. The State Committee on EITI and the Consultative Council have been established by the Kyrgyz Government Decrees. These bodies include representatives from different key government structures, the Parliament, international finance institutions, scientific and non-governmental organizations. The Government has appointed also state organizations, which are responsible for data collection, analysis, audit and publication.

In accordance with action plan adopted by the Government in a framework of the first phase of EITI performance two finance reports were published covering first six month of the current year: (i) the Government revenues from the extractive sector and (ii) benefit streams from restructuring of the KUMTOR project.

One of the key issues of the EITI is a voluntary approach and the Consortium members believe that it is necessary to strengthen encouraging of the Government and companies through stakeholders’ enlargement and promotion of the host regions’ population and Kyrgyzstan altogether. It is also pointed by the Consortium members that the EITI performance should not only improve the Kyrgyzstan’s international reputation but also really effect on conscientious management of natural resource wealth which is important factor for sustainable economic development and poverty reduction.

The Consortium is going (i) to increase awareness of local NGOs and affected population on EITI implementation in the country; (ii) to develop a multi-stakeholders dialog site; (iii) to conduct workshops for civil society representatives increasing their knowledge about the Reporting Templates and management of revenues from extractive industries; (iv) to establish effective links with involved government structures, companies and international finance institutions.

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The Consortium is informal network which is open for partnership with any interested party. The Human Development Centre “Tree of Life” is the Consortium’s contact organization and may be reached by: phone +996 (312) 280 150, fax +996 (312) 287 490, e-mail hdc3tol@yahoo.com, kmoldogazieva@hotmail.com

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