Ethiopia Active in Disclosing Extractive Industry Information, Says EITI

Addis Ababa  October 17   /2019  Ethiopia has shown active and fast progress in disclosing standardized information to local communities and civil society organizations about extractive industry, Directors of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) said.

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Policy Director, Ines S. Marques told ENA that Ethiopia has been an active implementer of EITI global standards of extracting resources  during the past five years.

“Ethiopia has been implementing the standard requirements of the initiative since 2014. Although the country is  one of the most recent members of EITI, it has been a very active country in improving information access on licenses that are awarded to companies and artisan  and small-scale mining,” she pointed out.

According to her, the country has been active in sharing standard information with local communities and civil society organizations.

“We have had many meetings where stakeholders have shared with our international guests about what Ethiopia has been doing and the progress made by Ethiopia in implementing the transparency standard,” Marques added.

The EITI board meeting underway in Addis Ababa has also reportedly discussed the validation procedures in Addis Ababa and decided that Ethiopia has made meaningful progress in disclosing information.

Marques, however, noted that a lot remains to be done in order to fulfill all standards of the initiative.

Extraction Industries Transparency Initiative Director for Africa, M. Bady Balde said joining the initiative to implement the standards enables members to ensure transparency and get robust benefit, and  also minimize risks of corruption and increase revenue from the sector by domestic resources mobilization for equal benefit of citizens.

He noted that 24 of the 52 Extraction Industries Transparency Initiative member countries are Africans.

Ethiopia joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global standard initiative for mineral, gas and oil resources extraction, in 2014.