December 22nd, 2006 – The next in turn, 8^th General Meeting of the Coalition took place. A total of 62 members of the Coalition and guests participated in the event.

Mr Sabit Bagirov, the co-ordinator for the Board of the Coalition, provided information on the activity of the Coalition since the last general meeting. After, the heads of different projects being implemented in the framework of the 2006-2007 Action Plan of the Coalition – Mr Osman Gunduz, Mr Zohrab Ismayil, Mr Faqan Aliyev, Mr Fuat Rasulov, Mr Vahid Qazi, Mr Ehtiram Aliyev and Mr Oqtay Gulaliyev – addressed the audience on the state of the corresponding projects and the relevant work that had been done in regard of them.

The next item on the agenda was the conclusion of the Monitoring Group about the activity of the Board. Faqan Aliyev, a member of the Monitoring Group, reported on the issue and announced the corresponding conclusion on the activity of the Board. The conclusion assessed the activity of the Board positive as a whole, highlighting the importance of the projects that had been implemented. Speaking of shortcomings, Mr Aliyev firstly expressed his dissatisfaction with the activity of the Monitoring Group he was a member of, and came up with a proposal on the reinforcement of the membership of the faction. He noted that the number of the members of the Monitoring Group needs to increase at the expense of the members of the Coalition who are competent and able to contribute to the Monitoring Group.

After a break, the meeting was proceeded with by discussing a report by the Board and the conclusion of the Monitoring group. The addresses assessed the activity of the Board as satisfactory in general. At the same time, there were voiced certain shortcomings and remarks, and forwarded some proposals. It was noted that a great deal of work had been done to develop public awareness during the past period (of reporting). As a result of different projects, it was noted that broad segments of the population had been informed of a wide range of issues as diverse as oil incomes, the reasons for the strengthening of transparency over the saving and spending of oil incomes, anticipated consequences in case of failed management of oil incomes, and the angles and extent of the impact of these issues on the lives of the people, etc., and that successful activities had been carried out to involve younger generation and students, females, intellectuals and representatives from civil society organizations and mass media in the above-mentioned actions dealing with the development of public awareness. As to shortcomings, firstly, there were introduced some remarks referring to the failure to enhance relations with international partners to the required level and to involve, to a wider extent, the members of the Coalition, who had received specific training, in the projects that were being implemented. The members of the Board, who were addressing the audience, noted that while there were ungrounded remarks in certain speeches, some shortcomings were correct and appropriate. Particularly, closer and increasingly regular relations needed to be fostered with international and regional partners. At the end of the discussion, the activity of the Board was assessed by general voting and accepted as satisfactory on the basis of a majority of votes. The next item, which was brought up for discussion, was the discussion over the changes in the Charter of the Coalition. Draft changes had been prepared and discussed by the Board. Nevertheless, participants of the meeting actively discussed new proposals. A number of new amendments and alterations were forwarded. As it failed to constitute the quorum to put the Charter of the Coalition to the vote, it was decided to hold electronic voting and approve the final edition once it would receive support from two-thirds of the voters.

Afterwards the meeting lasted with the discussion of the 2007 Programme. The corresponding document provided an analysis of the current state of affairs, and the prioritized sequence of the upcoming activities of the Coalition in 2007. At the end of the discussion, the document was approved by taking into consideration certain proposals.

It was decided to hold the discussion over the last item on the agenda - the Code of Ethics of the member of the Coalition – via email among members of the Coalition. So the general meeting came to an end.

(Photos featuring the general meeting).

December 2006 – publication of the 6^th issue of the Transparency in Extractive Industries bulletin of the Coalition

November 2006 – Source Book, a major reference book on EITI, comes out in the Azeri language

November 2006 - publication of the 5^th issue of the Transparency in Extractive Industries bulletin of the Coalition

November 8th, 2006 – Completion of the journalist contest in the framework of the Oil Revenues are Ours All campaign. Winners – authors of written articles – are announced and given awards at the corresponding press conference at the International Press Centre.

The following authors submitted their articles for the contest:

- Mr Musviq Tofiqoglu: “Dutch epidemic” in Azerbaijan; 1^st place

- Ms Sahla Abusattar: Petrodollars are flowing in, but they still flow out in the dark; 2^nd place

- Ms Habiba Abdulla: King-size petrodollars: bad beginning does not promise anything good; 2^nd place

- Mr Elxan Sahinoglu: BP in Azerbaijan; 3^rd place

- Mr Ruslan Xalil: Petrodollars are getting transformed into a curse to our nation; 3^rd place

- Mr Punnan Afandiyev: Oil boom triggers the Dutch disease; 3^rd place

- Mr Elxan Qudratoglu: where king-size petrodollars are to flow – encouragement prize

Below is the list of the other articles submitted for the contest:

- Ms Mehpara Sultanova: How will petrodollars influence the socioeconomic development of the country?

- Ms Punhana Elcin: Oil incomes? How is the transparency insured in the creation and spending of oil incomes?

- Mr Elcin Logmanoglu: Socioeconomic impacts of petrodollars on Azerbaijan and a threat of the Dutch disease

- Mr Afqan Qafarli: Oil incomes and the effective use of them

- Ms Farah Sabirqizi: WEALTH in the DARK(ness)

- Ms Vusala Familqizi: King-size petrodollars are fraught with risks

- Mr Ceyhun Arxili: Oil incomes trigger risk factors

October 30, 2006 -

October 20, 2006 - A conference held in the framework of the "Oil Revenues are for all of us" campaign. » » »

October, 2006 - The book of collected reports made in the International Baku Conference in April, 2006 "Pilot Countries Experience: İnternational Conference, Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6- 8, 2006" was published » » »

October 17, 2006 -

October 02, 2006 - Coalition Council members met with OSI West African Initiative representative Dr. Nana Tanko, Executive Director of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa. The issues concerning implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Azerbaijan, cooperation between the government of Azerbaijan and civil society and the Coalition activity were discussed at the meeting.

September 22, 2006 - Another sitting of the memorandum selection group was held on the use of the EITI. SOFAR's information about the sitting:

September 18, 2006 - Public Campaign "Oil revenues for all of us!" started

September 08, 2006 - The Coalition handed down its OPINION concerning a report by Deloitte auditing company within the framework of the EITI released on August 16, 2006

On August 16, 2006 - Azerbaijan discloses fourth EITI report

1. Press- release

2. Report of the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan (host government) about aggregated receipts from the extractive industries-Reporting period: 2005

3. Independent Accountants' Report for the year ended 31 December 2005

On July 18, 2006 - In the framework of the "Oil Revenues are Ours" campaign, there has been announced a written competition encouraging journalists' participation.

Conditions of the written competition among journalists in the framework of the "Oil Revenues are Ours" campaign

Articles, to be submitted, must cover the following subjects:

1. Analysis of the estimated expenditures of the State Oil Fund for 2006;

2. The impact of oil revenues on socioeconomic development;

3. Symptoms of the Dutch disease.

Articles must include the name and surname of the journalist, be signed by him/her and be published in the periodical press; the article must be submitted to the office of the ITEI in an electronic version, to be accompanied by a copy of the issue will the same article.

At the end of the article, prepared for the competition, there must be included the following: "This article has been submitted for the competition among journalists in the framework of the "Oil Revenues are Ours" campaign."

Articles, to be published in the press from 20 July till 1 September, are eligible for the competition.

The following competition gratuities have been envisaged for journalists:

Winner, 1^st place - US$300

Runner-up, 2^nd place - US$200

3^rd place - US$100.

For further information contact the office of EITI Coalition (Baku, 39 Fuzuli St., tel.: 493 14 38; mob.: 357 04 62, 315 66 03; email: office@eiti-az.org, oqtay_gulaliyev@box.az , dunya_sakit@box.az).

ON July 7, 2006 - Scientific & Technological Advance and Educational Centre arranges a roundtable, Oil factor and related incomes, undesired consequences, future opportunities and risks, in Oghuz region. The event, supported by OSI-Assistance Foundation, is to be conducted in the framework of the project targeting information openness of municipalities and information freedom of the people, and in accordance with the action plan of the NGO Coalition known as Increasing Transparency the in Extractive Industry (ITEI).

ON June 30, 2006 - the ITEI Coalition of NGOs held their 7^th general meeting at the Baku Press Centre. Participating in the event were 49 members of the Coalition and invited guests.

Coordinator of the Coalition Board, Mr Sabit Bagirov informed the audience about the activities since the previous general meeting and the upcoming plans for the next period. After, managers (Sevgim Rahmanov, Ogtay Gulaliyev, Fagan Aliyev, Osman Gunduz, Zohrab Ismayil, Vahid Gazi, Fuad Rassulov, Ehtiram Aliyev and Ilham Husseinov) of different projects, which are implemented in the framework of the 2006-2007 Action Plan of the Coalition, delivered speeches featuring the current status and upcoming activities under the projects they run. After those presentations, Himayat Rizvangizi announced the conclusions of the Monitoring Group (MG) on the activity of the Board. The conclusion was generally positive, albeit with serious observations.

Next, it was time for evaluation of the activity of the Board, following discussions over the presentations of Coalition members and conclusions of the Monitoring Group. A total of 21 participants spoke at the discussions. Finally, the activity of the Board was put the vote and assessed as acceptable.

The next issue on the agenda was a proposal by Mayis Gulaliyev concerning the official registration of the Coalition and validation of its legal status. The sponsor of the proposal took the floor and disclosed the essence of the issue. After discussions, the general meeting decided it more advisable to keep the activities of the Coalition in the current format.

Afterwards, meeting participants discussed a proposal by Fuad Gahramanly concerning the repeated registration of the members of the Coalition. The general meeting made a decision to set up a relevant working group and prepare corresponding proposals.

Following the break, members of the Coalition held discussions over the spread-out of the composition of the Board. It was decided that the Board would be added by two more members to eleven in total; Mehriban Vazir and Nariman Aghayev were elected new members of the Board.

Finally, seven applicants were admitted to the Coalition as (new) members.

ON June 12, 2006 - the executive director of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan, Shahmar Movsumov had a meeting with members of the ITEI Coalition of NGOs.

Meeting between Shahmar Movsumov and members of the ITEI Coalition of NGOs

On 12 June 12, 2006, the executive director of the State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijan republic, Shahmar Movsumov met with members of the ITEI Coalition of NGOs. NGO representatives noted the developments with respect to the implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which is in charge of the production of minerals, in Azerbaijan, and came up with proposals on future plans. Highly appreciating the co-operation between the ITEI Coalition of NGOs and the corresponding Governmental commission in the field of the implementation of the Transparency Initiative, Mr Movsumov expressed his confidence in the continuation of this co-operation in future. Being of cognitive nature the meeting took place in a constructive way. It was noted that the Government of Azerbaijan would hold firm to meeting its commitments to the implementation of the policies towards Transparency Initiative in the future.

ON June 6, 2006 - the Free Economy Centre and Committee on the protection of the Rights of the Oil Industry Worker launched the project on "SOCAR audit delay and public discussions over the state of transparency of the activity of the company"

ON May 19, 2006 - during the evening broadcast of Radio Azadliq, a total of 0 minutes were devoted to a programme involving Alasgar Mammadli and Azar Hasrat, experts of the project entitled Access to Information at State Establishments and Oil Companies. In the framework of the project, giving rise to a great interest were discussions over a Rating List of Internet resources of state structures and oil companies, prepared by the Centre for Multimedia Information and Technology, a member of the Coalition. Full information was posted on the web-site of the Radio (http://www.azadliq.org/BroadcastSchedule.aspx) and on www.informasiya.org.

ON May 8, 16 and 18, 2006 - conferences were conducted in the towns of Zagatala, Balakan and Masally, in the framework of the Raising Regional Public Awareness of the Extractive Industry in Azerbaijan.

ON May 16, 2006 - there was held an extra meeting of the Selection Group, a body set up in accordance with the memorandum of mutual understanding, signed among the Governmental commission on EITI, local and foreign companies active in the extractive industry (oil and gas) of Azerbaijan, and the ITEI Coalition of NGOs. Also, Deloitte & Touche was announced the winner of the competition, which was held to approve an audit company to audit and verify the corresponding reports for the next, forth-in-turn reporting period (2005) in the framework of EITI. Below is the corresponding information on EITI, released by the Government Commission:

ON May 11, 2006 - members of the Board, Mr Sabit Bagirov, Gubad Ibadoghlu, Telman Zeynalov, Inglab Ahmadov and Ogtay Gulaliyev were received by Mr Angus Miller, the Caspian energy envoy of the UK Foreign Office, at the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Azerbaijan. At the meeting, which was of familiarization nature, the envoy - noting the interest of his country in co-operation with Azerbaijan - touched upon broad economic ties the British companied had managed to develop in Azerbaijan, particularly in active exploitation of oil & gas resources in the Caspian region. Mr Miller also stressed that the British Government attached particular importance to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and gave support to EITI development in member countries. The envoy also showed interest for the achievements of the ITEI Coalition of NGOs and expressed readiness for close co-operation with the Coalition. For their part, members of the Coalition Board informed Mr Miller about the activities of the association and exchanged views with the British envoy on the past and upcoming activities. It was decided to have such meetings in a regular time frame. Participating in the meeting were also some staff members of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Azerbaijan.