Country praised for participating in conference

The National Business

PAPUA New Guinea was praised for being a fully active member in implementing the Global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Standard from its recent participation and country presentation at the EITI Global Conference in Paris France in June.
The triennial event which saw more than 1,000 participants from EITI countries as well as supporting countries and other key stakeholders, showcased PNG as a model country for main-streaming the EITI standards required for extractive projects revenue transparency and accountability
The EITI Global Conference witnessed all EITI implementing and supporting countries meet to discuss pressing issues, share experiences, network and provide useful implementation updates and also on the progress of implementation.
PNG was represented at the global conference by a delegation including the Mineral Resources Authority, Internal Revenue Commission, Oil Search Ltd, ExxonMobil PNG Ltd, the PNGEITI National Secretariat and the Consultative and Implementation Monitoring Council and the PNG Council of Churches.
“We commend them all for their active participation and contributions in the conference,” PNG Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative head of the national secretariat Lucas Alkan.
“We hope that they found the conference to be highly useful and a means to drive us to collaborate better and more effectively in our implementation of EITI in PNG as we make effort to promote transparency and address resource governance issues.
“The level of discussion and interaction on the various topics discussed was testament to the event’s value and in bring our EITI community together.”
The conference also saw the launch and incorporation of the 2019 EITI Standard.
This is the third version of the Global EITI standard, previous standards were 2013 and 2016 standards.
“The conference also involved much high level dialogue and engagement to enable the EITI to mobilise and sustain much needed political commitment essential for achieving many of EITI’s goals,” Alkan said.
He thanked all member agencies and entities who continued to support the EITI implementation in the country and also for ensuring that PNG was fully represented.