Aye Mi Aung – Burma should apply for membership of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), says Mon Social Development Network (MSDN). The EITI is a global initiative that promotes revenue transparency in the extractive sector, geared towards alleviating corruption in resource-rich developing countries.
EITI provides a methodology for reporting revenues from oil, gas, metal and mineral extraction projects. Application requires creating a tripartite working group comprising government, civil society and private sector representatives. The initiative currently has 25 fully compliant member countries.
“Payments made by companies to the government should be reported,” said U Aung Naing Oo, Mon State Hluttaw representative.
U Aung Naing Oo also said that revenue transparency will become decrease centralized control of natural resources, claiming that improvements to the extractive industries will grant more administrative power to ethnic people regarding resources located in minority areas, which are in dire need of development.
He continued that the union government has control and ownership of Burma’s natural resources such as gold, gems, metals, gas, oil and timbers, as well as other agricultural and fishing products. Burma has a history of corruption due to lack of transparency over where profits from such industries are going.
Myanmar Development Resource Institute (MDRI) organized a 3-day workshop from Nov 16 to 18 at Taw-win Kumutara hotel in Naypyitaw to discuss measures towards transparency. The workshop was attended by over 40 representatives ranging from parliamentarians, domestic businessmen and civil society leaders.
Burma News International (BNI) recently published a report entitled Economics of Peace and Conflict, highlighting the widespread corruption that has resulted from Burma’s major development projects and how mismanagement impacts the peace process.
INGO Transparency International reported in their recent Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) that Burma ranked 172 of 176 most corrupt nations worldwide as of 2012, while Revenue Watch Institute ranked Burma’s resource governance the worst in the world in their 2013 Resource Governance Index.
President U Thein Sein has pledged to apply for EITI candidacy by the end of 2013.
