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Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) reports for the year 2006 will be collated by Moore Stephens Azerbaijan Limited following the decision of the Selection Group, which was established in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed to implement EITI in Azerbaijan between the governmental Committee on EITI, foreign and local extractive industry (oil and gas) companies and the NGOs’ Coalition for Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries. Tender has been announced by bp, as the foreign and local companies are to pay audit company’s fees for collation of the next (sixth) cycle reports as per MOU.

Berlin, 5 June 2007 - Transparency International’s (TI) ‘G8 Progress Report’ [http://www.transparency.org/publications/publications/g8_progress_report], issued today in Berlin, a day ahead of the Group of Eight (G8 ) Summit in Germany, concludes that although many laudable commitments have been made towards fighting corruption and improving governance, follow-through on them has been meagre.

In the first quarter of 2007, the factual amount of capital investment in the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline (SCGP) went beyond the forecast. Just like that, a total of 12 million U.S. dollars was been spent in capital expenditure on the implementation of the project since January through March, while some 41 million U.S. dollars had been budgeted for the entire 2007. Mr Bill Schrader, the president of BP Azerbaijan, said that the overrun was associated with the completion of certain components of the testing work outstanding since the end of last year.

Transparency initiative and the effective management of petrodollars are on agenda for teaching staff and students (Azerbaijan State Economic University, Azerbaijan Architecture and Construction University, Azerbaijan University, Azerbaijan University of Languages, Azerbaijan Technical University, Ganja Agricultural Academy)

A meeting with experts in Kazakhstan’s EITI activities took place at the headquarters of the Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries coalition of Azerbaijani NGOs on June 8th. Participating in the gathering were members of the Board of the Coalition, as well as Mr Anton Artemyev, a representative from the Soros Foundation in Kazakhstan, and Mr Malik Issabekov, a representative of the Kazakhstan’s NGO Coalition with an eye on EITI processes.

The alliance claims dubious representation of civil society by parliament and Academy of Sciences The coalition of civil society institutions Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries on June 8th issued a statement on the newly arranged composition of the Supervisory Board of the State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOFAZ). The announcement refers to the corresponding Presidential Decree of May 18th on the approval of the new composition of the SOFAZ Supervisory Board. In accordance with Article 5.4 of the SOFAZ Regulations, which were approved by the Presidential Decree #434 of December 29th, 2000, a representative(s) of civil society institutions must have a seat(s) on the Supervisory Board of the Fund. So the board must be composed of two members from Milli Maclis (parliament or legislative power), five members from the Government (executive power), a member from the Milli Bank (central bank), and a member from the National Academy of Sciences.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) pervaded the agenda of the third session on the last working day of the 14th Caspian International Oil & Gas Conference, on June 7th. Mr Yon Ramberg, the ambassador of Norway to Azerbaijan, opened the special session Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: towards a global norm for revenue transparency. He made an emphasis on the crucial importance of EITI for oil- and gas-producing nations.

The group has become notable for active co-operation with the media. The Zardabi Media Centre has announced the results of the multi-profile poll which it had conducted in 2006. The corresponding event, dedicated to the presentation of the results, took place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on May 30th, with participation of representatives from governmental circles, ministry officials, heads of international organizations, MPs, members of the Press Council, media representatives, business and NGO circles, etc.

A round table – the next in turn in the framework of the coalition’s integrated project entitled Campaigning for the Awareness of Citizens and Increase of the Interest for the Effective Use of Oil Revenues – took place in Mingachevir, a major town in the central part of the country, on June 10th.

The Supervisory Board of the State Oil Fund held its regular meeting on June 13th. According to the PR department of the Fund, Prime Minister Artur Rasizada, the chairman of the Supervisory Board of the State oil Fund, presided at the meeting.

May 31st, 2007 By Bassey Udo and Charles Okonji, Lagos Publish-What-You-Pay Nigeria (PWYP), one of the leading non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that championed the cause for the passage of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Act, has commended the immediate past President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for signing the bill into law shortly before he left office last Tuesday. National Coordinator of the group, David Ugolor, who issued the commendation, assured that Civil Society Groups in the country would continue to work with government and all its agencies to ensure that the NEITI Law meets the principles and criteria of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

Two civil society institutions Healthy Development and Education (SIMIB) and Youth Democrats Reformists (DIMIB) on June 6th 2007 held a seminar with young people in Oguz district, as part of the united project Involvement of Young People in EITI Processes implemented by the coalition Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries.

Mr Qubad Ibadoglu, the co-ordinator for the board of the coalition of civil society institutions Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries, visited Jakarta, Indonesia, June 12th through 14th 2007, at the invitation of Transparency international Indonesia. The main objective of the visit was to make a presentation on the implementation of EITI in Azerbaijan and the formation of the ITEI coalition at a special gathering for local NGOs supporting the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

TOpening the round table, project manager Mr A. Mikayilov informed the audience of the goal, objectives and topicality of the project as well as the organisations implementing it (EITI, SIMIB, and DIGIB). Then the floor was given to Mr Anar Khalilov, the chairman of SIMIB. The presentation by Mr Khalilov had in-depth coverage of the role of petrodollars in the ongoing socioeconomic situation in Azerbaijan.

Two civil society institutions Healthy Development and Education (SIMIB) and Youth Democrats Reformists (DIMIB) held a round table in Barda, a town in the central part of Azerbaijan, on June 16th 2007, in the framework of the Youth Involvement in EITI Processes project of the coalition Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries. All 22 participants of the gathering were provided with proceedings from an international conference entitled Experience of Pilot Countries, as well as with portable calendars, notebooks and pens bearing the logos of the ITEI coalition, SIMIB and DIGIB organizations. Also in the course of the event, the walls of the seminar room were hung on with writing pads, as well as instructional sheets, bearing the logos of the ITEI coalition, SIMIB and DIGIB, with information about revenues and expenditures of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ).

A regular radio broadcast on the topic Oil Revenues and Government Spending, as part of the series of radio debates on oil revenues and the effective use of them, has been aired in the framework of the corresponding united project of the coalition. Programme guests, Mr Azar Mehdiyev, the editor-in-chief of Ekspert journal, and Mr Cumsud Nuriyev, a former MP, touched upon the impact of petrodollars on the state budget, the effect of such influence on living conditions of the population, as well as the ways of use of oil incomes for the development of education and health sectors, etc.