17 Jan Addressing the Corrective Actions for the International Validation Process at the focus of the MSG Meeting – EITI
The EITI MSG held a meeting on January 11, 2019 attended by members of MSG, representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, Ministry of Finance and Economy, General Directorate of Customs, Energy Regulator Authority, AKBN, Foreign Investor Association of Albania (FIAA), the Albanian Geological Survey, representatives of Extractive Industry Businesses and Civil Society.
The 2019 MSG Meeting Agenda consisted in addressing the implementation of Corrective Actions formulated under the International Validation Process.
The Director of EITI National Secretariat, Mr. Kamberi presented the objectives of this very important process, in the context of Albania’s performance evaluation and arrangement in the promotion and implementation of Transparency in Natural Resources Management, Mining Sectors, Hydrocarbons and Electricity.
In the context of the Second International Validation for Albania, which will commence in mid-February 2019, specifically was discussed issues related to:
-Civil society must be fully, actively and effectively engaged in the MSG composition (In accordance with 1.3.a requirement of EITI Standard);-Nominating and changing procedures for MSG members (In accordance with 1.4.a.ii requirement of EITI Standard); Consumption of the Civil Society Members Election in the MSG process in a transparent, public and qualitative format; -Increasing the representation of State-owned companies in MSG (Albpetrol sha -in accordance with 2.6 requirement of EITI Standard);-Aggregation of MSG members in public promotion and awareness activities for the Transparency process on the web, articles and events (In accordance with 4.b.ii and 1.4.b.iii requirements of EITI Standard); – Evaluation of MSG members in accordance with a qualitative engagement in the process for representation and contribution of the Institutions and interest groups they represent; Provision by the MSG to disclose granting permits, concessions and agreements procedures (In accordance with 2.2.a requirement);Government Policies for disclosing mining, petroleum, hydropower and electricity data; – Transactions and Publication of SOE Revenues (In accordance with requirement 2.6.a);- Engagement of the MSG regarding the sub-national payments publication by companies of Local Government (in accordance with requirement 4.6 of the Standards);- Payment and Revenue assessment by independent and authorized audits (in accordance with Standard 4.9.a requirement); Commitment of Independent Administrator (in accordance with 4.9 requirement);– MSG determination on mandatory and voluntary of socially revenues on EITI Reports to be disclosed (in accordance with 6.1.a requirement); – Publication of SOE’s quasi-fiscal expenditure on EITI report (in accordance with 6.2 requirement);Institutionalization of mechanisms in cooperation by the MSG and the State Institutions for identifying, investigating and addressing issues identified in EITI Reports and Validation Processes (in accordance with 7.3 requirement).
-Also was discussed optimizing and addressing the findings and recommendations from the Commodity Trading Report for Albpetrol sh.a. initiated by the EITI International Secretariat Project.
At the conclusion it was agreed to set up a Working Group from the MSG, which will be engaged in drafting a Work Plan on 2019 national priorities which will result as a product of wider discussions with stakeholders, addressing measures for exhaustion of Corrective Actions for the Validation Process, and the use of EITI Report Recommendations to point out the discrepancies in the legal, fiscal and regulatory framework in the field of mining, oil and gas and institutional support for finalizing the Draft Law for Transparency in Extractive Industries Sectors.