GUYANA is aiming to become a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the global coalition of governments, companies and civil society working together to improve openness and accountable management of revenues from natural resources such as forestry and mining.

In EITI-compliant countries, companies in the extractive sectors such as mining and forestry are required to publish what they pay to governments and governments are required to publish what they receive from companies.
These figures are then reconciled by an independent administrator
Disclosing the Guyana movement towards EITI membership last week, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNR&E), Robert Persaud, said that an international consultancy team will soon commence a Scoping Study for the Potential Adoption of EITI.
The consultants’ assignment will consist of a detailed study of Guyana’s extractive industries to highlight opportunities and challenges of EITI implementation, and also dissemination of results and capacity- building.
The EITI compliance, a reliable source has disclosed, empowers the public to more effectively hold government accountable for resource revenues.
EITI sits in the centre of the value chain in the extractive sector, focusing on revenue transparency to translate natural resource wealth into better development for the local population.
This is necessary because in resource- rich economies, oil, gas and mining companies make payments directly to governments and sometimes normal channels of public accountability are often missing because the government has an autonomous source of revenue not dependent on taxing its citizens.
Government’s undue reliance on these revenues can result in lower public service delivery, increased opportunities for corruption and higher dependency on the extractive sector.
Some benefits of increased revenue transparency include: improving revenue collection and management processes and creating a more attractive investment climate.
EITI compliance also builds trust between governments, companies and citizens and provides a forum for discussion of broader extractive industry governance issues such as physical and process audits, contracts transparency and sub-national revenues.
As at early 2014 there were 29 EITI -compliant countries; 17 candidate countries and 35 countries had produced EITI reports.
EITI-compliant country members include Azerbaijan, Liberia, Albania, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mauritania, Madagascar, Mongolia, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Sao Tome & Principe, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Yemen, and Zambia to name a few.