AZERBAIJAN DESIGNATED AS EITI COMPLIANT COUNTRY

Baku. February 27 (AzerTAc). Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has designated Azerbaijan as EITI Compliant country at its fourth Global Conference in Doha, Qatar.

Azerbaijan`s delegation at the conference included Finance Minister Samir Sharifov,
Executive Director of State Oil Fund Shahmar Movsumov, and head of EITI Secretariat
Adil Mammadov.
Movsumov told journalists in Baku that the EITI Board made the decision “taking into
account Azerbaijan`s instituting a regular process of disclosing, reconciling and
publishing company payments and government receipts”.
“Azerbaijan is the first country to complete validation, the EITI's quality
assurance process which verifies compliance with EITI principles and criteria. The
promotion of Azerbaijan from Candidate to Compliant country status marks an
important milestone for the EITI” Movsumov said.
According to him, the EITI Board congratulated the government of Azerbaijan for “its
commitment and leadership and commended all stakeholders for their collaborative and
constructive approach to EITI implementation.”
Movsumov said the EITI now has “a total of 26 implementing countries: 25 Candidate
countries and Azerbaijan as the first EITI Compliant country.”
According to Movsumov, Chairman of Soros Fund Management, founder of the Open
Society Institute George Soros also congratulated the Azerbaijani government and
praised its showing leadership in establishing resource transparency since the last
EITI Conference.
The State Oil Fund Executive Director also said the Doha Conference re-elected
Azerbaijan as a member of the EITI Board.