GUYANA’s first Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) report was presented on Monday to Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman.

The report will pave the way towards positive reformation and transparency in the extractive industry. It was handed over at the ministry’s boardroom by Deputy Coordinator for the Guyana EITI (GYEITI) Diane Barker.

Trotman was presented with a brief summary of the report as the actual report amounts to some 6,000 pages. He will now formally apprise the President and other Cabinet members about its completion and, on May 2, 2019, a press conference will be held for media officials to delve deeper into the report.

“For a country like Guyana where the bedrock of our economy is the extractive industry– gold, diamond, bauxite, forests– this is very important. When this government came into office we recognized that the process had started; it seemed a bit sluggish [but] we recommitted and energized it and have been working assiduously since,” the Natural Resources Minister said.

He stated that the document would “paint a picture” on where Guyana stands regarding transparency in the extractive industries and will highlight the areas where improvement is needed.

“Now that we’re coming into a new regime, we see where the gaps are and as we progress as a nation, we can fill those. Your first report is actually meant to be a very frank and stark report on where you’re not. I don’t think there’s any country in the world that has started off with a glowing report in the first instance…but the main thing is that you’re finding discrepancies when you were not even aware that they existed. So, it starts the process of reformation and movement towards transparency,” he said.
The EITI is a government-led initiative in partnership with the private sector, civil society and the industry.

“We chose to have a tripartite form of governance, so that both the industry as well as civil society would all have equity or parity or equal status on the multi-stakeholder group,” he explained.

“In some countries, the government takes charge and is in charge. I thought we would have something where we are ‘first among equals’.”
In his comments to Barker, Minister Trotman said that he was pleased to receive the report and is happy that [it] was in keeping with the set deadline.

“There were moments when we thought that it could not happen but the hard work of Dr. Rudy Jadoopat [National Coordinator of GYEITI Secretariat], Ms. Barker and other members of the multi-stakeholder group, we were able to get it done,” he said. Meanwhile, Barker stated that the report is a special ‘first’ for Guyana and that she is pleased to be involved in its compilation.