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Shahmar Movsumov: Some countries take interest in Azerbaijanâ€™s EITI practice

26 February 2009 15:00 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov â€“ APA-Economics. Azerbaijan became the first to achieve the EITI Compliant country status among 26 candidate countries after the countryâ€™s new status was approved at the 4th Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) annual conference in Doha, said Shahmar Movsumov, Executive Director of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan Republic (SOFAZ).
He added that some countries including Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nihgeria, Yaman and others take great interest in Azerbaiajnâ€™s practice.
During the first day of the Conference, the Board discussed approval of Azerbaijan as the first EITI Compliant country.
It was mentioned that Azerbaijan has instituted a regular process of disclosing, reconciling and publishing company payments and government receipts; Azerbaijan is the first country to complete validation, the EITI’s quality assurance process which verifies compliance with EITI principles and criteria. Taking all these into account the EITI Board designated Azerbaijan as EITI Compliant country. Thereby Azerbaijan became the first EITI Compliant country among 26 candidate countries.
The Board congratulated the government of Azerbaijan for its commitment and leadership and commended all stakeholders for their collaborative and constructive approach to EITI implementation. The promotion of Azerbaijan from Candidate to Compliant country status marks an important milestone for the EITI. â€œEITI Award 2009â€ for Azerbaijanâ€™s commitment to EITI principles and criteria and its achievements in EITI Implementation was awarded to Azerbaijan.
George Soros, Founder and Chairman of the Open Society Institute and the Soros foundations network, participating at the Conference congratulated Azerbaijan, appreciated Azerbaijanâ€™s achievements and supports to EITI and expressed his hopes that other EITI implementing countries will follow Azerbaijanâ€™s experience.
At the Conference Azerbaijan was reelected as EITI International Board member for the next two years.