LUSAKA, September 19, 2012 - The International Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Norway today formally designated Zambia as an EITI-compliant country.
This means that Zambia’s EITI process which was launched in 2008 by the government, mining companies and civil society has been successfully validated as having met the EITI criteria and requirements.
The EITI process commits mining companies in Zambia to publish the payments they make to government and commits government to publish revenues they receive from these companies. These two sets of numbers are matched up and published, giving citizens the opportunity to know of the income generated by extracting Zambia’s natural resources like copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals. Zambia has to date published two such EITI Reports and the third, for 2010, is in process.
The World Bank in Lusaka and its partners have supported Zambia EITI since its launch in 2008, and now also support national civil society groups to take effective part in the EITI process. Through the EITI multi-donor trust fund supported Cooperating Partners, the World Bank support is delivered through hands-on technical assistance as well as EITI MDTF funding in the form of grants.
“EITI is an important international standard and the World Bank is greatly encouraged by the effort made by Zambia to meet this global standard, and reach the EITI-compliance milestone” says Kundhavi Kadiresan, Country Director of the World Bank for Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, “EITI –compliance sends a strong signal to citizens about Government of Zambia’s commitment to transparency in the mining sector and in working collaboratively with the mining industry and Zambian civil society through the Zambia EITI process”
She suggested that more work lies ahead for the Zambian government and its EITI stakeholders to continue to build on the latest achievement to achieve stronger national consensus around how Zambia can use its minerals wealth to reduce poverty and improve its development prospects.
Elsewhere in Africa and elsewhere in the world, the World Bank and EITI MDTF supports the EITI processes and national civil groups in almost all EITI-implementing countries and national civil society groups, and helps outreach to new countries and stakeholders interested in EITI.
“We are providing technical assistance and funding support to Zambia and other EITI countries’ transparency efforts, as a pathway to development and poverty reduction through better management of their natural resources,” says Paulo de Sa, Sector Manager, World Bank Oil Gas and Mining unit, which manages the donor-funded EITI multi-donor trust fund (MDTF).
Including Zambia, a total of 15 of the EITI-implementing countries are now designated as EITI –compliant, having met the EITI standard for transparent publication of payments and revenues in oil, gas and mining industry, with multi-stakeholder participation. In addition, a further 21 countries are in various initial phases of EITI implementation, classified by the EITI Board as EITI candidates.
