UK TO ASSIST AZERBAIJAN IN IMPLEMENTING EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE

Baku, IAA "Trend" April 2 corr. E.Huseynov

The UK government intends to assist the Azerbaijani government in implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative of British Premier Tony Blair, Sefton Darby, Policy Analyst at the UK's Department for International Development (DfID) stated to a news conference on Friday, Trend reports.

Speaking on the results of his visit to Baku Darby held consultations with governmental officials, representatives of the oil companies active in the country and international and local non-governmental organizations. The receipts from the realization of oil will increase in Azerbaijan within nearest 12-18 months and now it is necessary establish appropriate base for transparency of receipts from oil revenues. Darby noted the UK appreciated support by the Azerbaijani President and establishment of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) to implement the initiatives. The oil companies functioning in the county also stated their intention to participate in EITI.

Noting that SOFAZ sent reporting forms to oil companies operating in the country, Darby noted the forms prepared meets the standards applied in the UK. The companies are to return the completed forms to SOFAZ by mid- May.

Darby stressed the way for implementing the UK's initiatives, originally estimated to 1m pounds is still to be determined. The project interested other governments and international organizations, including Norway and World Bank and the donor funds allocated for implementing initiatives is growing. The funds collected will be spent on realization of technical pilot projects of the countries, which approved EITI. At present they are Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Ghana.

PM Blair put forward an initiative EITI in the World Summit on Continuing Development held in Johannesburg in September, 2002. Public Finance Monitoring Center non-governmental organization has operated in Azerbaijan since June, 2003.