12 Nov Successful year for EITI in Albania despite Covid-19 pandemics
Despite the difficult situation with Covid-19 pandemic, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Albania (EITI) has realized its 2020 planned projects. Mr. Genci Tërpo, Director of EITI in Albania during his presentation stated ‘This has been a very difficult year but the pandemics haven’t prevented us from doing our job’. Mr. Tërpo went on to make a comprehensive presentation of the 2020 EITI projects. He mentioned the ongoing preparations for the EITI Open Data portal, which will be finished this year. The Open Data portal is a novelty for Albania and especially for state institutions because very few state institutions in Albania have Open Data portals. Mr. Tërpo emphasized the importance of this portal which will help to increase transparency and accountability and all citizens will have the opportunity to check online all the data about extractive industries in Albania.
Mr. Tërpo also said that the hotspot of EITI’s 2020 work is the 2017-2018 EITI Report which will be finished by the end of this year. He said that this is an achievement for EITI in Albania because many EITI member countries have delayed it for next year because of the Covid-19 pandemics.
He also presented the project for the new minerary register in Albania. Mr. Tërpo said that the company has worked very quickly and EITI has the assurance from the company that the new register will be ready by the end of the year. Mr. Tërpo also said that EITI this year had chosen a PR Ambassador for 2020 and also has chosen the person who is doing EITI’s Communication Strategy.
‘’In 3-4 months we have been able to realize projects that would have taken many more months’’ concluded Mr. Tërpo.
Representatives from Abkons presented next to the draft Report on the Environmental Impact of the extractive industries in Albania. The report consisted of an evaluation of the situation, identification of the problems, and in the end recommendations for improvement.
During a question and answer session after the end of the presentation, various experts and civil society representatives suggested that this report should be more specific by concretizing the issues mentioned on it. Abkons representatives assured them that all the comments will be reflected in the final report.