Georgetown: Natural Resources and Environment Minister Robert Persaud is expected to lead a Guyana delegation to Trinidad and Tobago to attend various meetings with the Chair of the Board of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Clare Short this month end.
The primary focus of these meetings will be on Guyana’s commitment and progress to applying for EITI candidacy.
Following the inception workshop and the launch of the scoping study for EITI for Guyana in the last quarter of 2014, the Ministry along with the consultancy firm; Moore Stephens International (MSI) has commenced the second round of fieldwork for the project.
The Ministry and MSI are both working diligently to ensure that the agreed timelines for the deliverables of this project are reached. This is an undertaking of national importance to the mining and minerals component of the economic developmental pillars of Guyana.
A team from MSI is currently in Guyana on a two week mission to conduct meetings with various stakeholders from public, private and civil society organization.
Among the key stakeholders are representatives from the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association, Guyana Women Miners Organization, Guyana Human Rights Association, Ministry of Finance, Guyana Revenue Authority, Audit Office of Guyana, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Guyana Gold Board, Environmental Protection Agency, etc.
The scoping study will help assess challenges and opportunities associated with EITI implementation and determine the scope of the EITI reporting. The study will include critical information on a number of subjects including the extractives industry in the country and its importance to the overall economy; the costs and benefits of EITI implementation; how EITI can be linked to and reinforce other reform efforts; key stakeholders within government, the private sector and civil society; capacity constraints, in particular with regards to civil society participation; and potential sources of funding for EITI implementation.
The objective of this assignment is to produce a study which will inform the multi-stakeholder group’s discussions regarding the capacity and implications of the implementation of the 2013 EITI standard for Guyana’s extractive industries.
The assignment will consist of a detailed study to assess Guyana’s extractives industry and to highlight opportunities and challenges of EITI implementation; and a dissemination of results and capacity building.
The study will consist of three sections namely Information/Context, information for and scope of the EITI report, and sCost/benefit analysis and workplan.
EITI is a global standard aimed at improving revenue transparency and accountability in the extractives sector. EITI was established in 2002 and since then has become a robust yet flexible methodology for monitoring and reconciling company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining at the country level.
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