Norway approved as a full member of the EITI

As the first OECD country, Norway has been approved as a full member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which promotes transparency of financial flows within the petroleum and mining industries. This makes Norway a frontrunner in the efforts to achieve greater transparency.

Lire le communiqué de presse en français ici (pdf).

Cooperation between authorities, companies and civil society plays a key role. The government has appointed a group of 12 people to help with the implementation of the EITI. The group includes representatives from the Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF), Trade Unions, Transparency International (TI) and Publish What You Pay (PWYP).

- Natural resources such as oil, gas and minerals are of great importance for economic and social development in a country. Transparency and control of financial flows between industry and government are essential to achieve this. The EITI is an initiative that will contribute to transparency. By implementing the EITI at home, we want to encourage resource-rich countries to transparency of financial flows, said Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Riis-Johansen.

For several years, Norway has given its political and financial support to the EITI and implementing countries, and the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has been responsible for the EITI implementation in Norway. As many as 3.5 billion people live in countries rich in natural resources like oil, gas and minerals. Many of these countries are very poor and often marked by war and conflicts. The EITI’s purpose is to increase the transparency of payment flows between the petroleum and mining industry and the authorities. In the longer term, this can contribute to better governance, less corruption and provide a basis for economic and social development in these countries.