Participants:

Agenda and decisions approved

1. Discussion of the fields of activity of the Board for 2006 (clarification of the attitude of the Coalition towards the beginning of the use of huge amounts of money, accumulated at the State oil fund, by the Government of Azerbaijan)

It was proposed to postpone the discussion of the issue for the time when the Board convenes in a larger complement and invited other concerned members of the Coalition to participate. The issue was discussed again, during the Current Issues part of the meeting, and a series of proposals followed:

• Thorough analysis of the budget of the State oil fund;

• A statement must be released by the Coalition on the expenses of the State oil fund for 2006;

• The civilian oversight should be strengthened with an increase in the amount of expenses of the State oil fund. This must be accompanied by the arrangement of the corresponding conditions and the allocation of the resources required for monitoring purposes;

• Before the release of the audit conclusion on EITI reports, the Coalition must complete spade-work targeting the study of the corresponding reporting forms, and try to get access to other bare sources of the information required in the reporting forms;

• After the release of the audit conclusion on EITI reports, the Coalition must analyze the corresponding papers, prepare a review to be made public, and express their opinion towards the above EITI reports (including audit conclusions), with the customary condition of the media coverage of the findings. Only after these measures are taken, there can be raised the question of the Coalition becoming a signatory to the joint press release on the (EITI) reports and accompanying audit conclusion(s).

It was decided:

To broadly discuss the issue, including the accompanying proposals, at the next meeting of the Board.

2. Discussions of the presentation next week – on behalf of the Coalition – of the 2006 Action Plan, to donors

It was decided:

To apply next week to donors with a letter on behalf of the Coalition and invite them to a meeting;

To get everything arranged for a joint meeting of the Coalition and donors, and make presentation of the Action Plan of the Coalition at that meeting.

3. Discussion of possible measures to me taken by the Coalition in order to ensure the presentation of civil society (organizations) at the Observation Board of the State oil fund, in accordance with the Regulations of the Fund

S. Baghirov has said that the Regulations of the State oil fund have made a provision for the representation of the civil society (organizations) in the Observation Board. It is reasonable that a representative of the Coalition of NGOs, Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries (ITEI), which deals with issues of transparency of oil revenues, be included in the composition of the Observation Board. He (Baghirov) has come up with a proposal to discuss relevant measures to be necessarily taken in order to achieve the above goal.

It was decided:

To apply to the President on behalf of the Coalition and, basing ourselves on the Regulations of the State oil fund, ask him for assistance in securing membership for an ITEI Coalition representative as a representative of the civil society in the Observation Board.

4. Discussion of the reasons for the delay in the audit of the third report of the Government and companies

S. Baghirov has said that in accordance with the information he has got today, the audit company had completed its analysis and was ready to announce its Conclusive Report. On the basis of a general agreement, the findings and the Conclusive Report of the audit company will be made public in mid-January.

5. Accession of new members to the Coalition

The following organizations were affiliated to the Coalition:

• Umid (hope) humanitarian and social support center; Israil Isgandarov is the head of the organization;

• Political-Cultural Center of the Women of Azerbaijan; Mehriban Vazir is the head of the organization;

• Building Association of Azerbaijan; Shamil Husseynov is the head of the organization;

• Azerbaijan Social Union of Healthy Development; Anar Khalilov

6. Current Issues

◄ 1 ... 47 48 49 ... 78 ► ☼ A ₪

Last correction date of the file: 24/7/2008 - 14:56:19