Relentless Pursuit

Apropos of my last post on Marc Ona I read an article in the New York Times today about Gabon, quoting Marc Ona. Also in the paper today was a piece by Jad Mouawad about Total's worldwide explorations, with particular emphasis on Yemen. In the case of Gabon - it's a country's dependence on oil and the impact on the environment of its relentless development; in the other it's a company's relentless pursuit of the resource. But for some reason, in neither account does the Times address the fiscal transparency aspect of this issue, which would seem like a worthwhile thing to do. That's something to keep pursuing -- relentlessly.

Marc Ona Essangui

Marc Ona Essangui couldn't make it to Doha from Gabon. Let's raise his name at the EITI Stakeholder Forum.

Make Transparency the Vector of Growth

Today the keynote speakers took center stage to explain why this movement is gaining momentum. It's a matter of will. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, president of Liberia made the biggest impression. Liberia has come so far, so fast. The reason? The single issue that changed Liberia was political will -- her political will -- to make space for civil society, parliament and government to play their roles. That will made everything else possible. And when you look at some of Liberia's neighbors that have made less, little or no headway against corruption - you see how much difference her political will has made for her people.

As Peter Eigen and Jeroen van der Veer reminded us: it's that unique multistakeholder initiative.

I also liked what the Deputy Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Abdallah bin Hamad al al-Attiyah had to say. He's a straight-talking, insightful, affable Sheikh. Reinforcing the point of Johnson-Sirleaf he said "corruption has no country, no religion, no nationality." He touted Qatar's code of conduct and its high ranking on the TI Corruption Index. Best of all he was genuinely in his element on the subject and kept extending the session to allow more and more questions and discussion.

And now it's the economy itself that imho is rewriting the rules and calculations for how extracting countries think about being transparent in their business dealings and how we think about making the case for it. Throughout the day different speakers emphasized that the current financial crisis has revealed just how much investors need accurate information to make good business decisions; one reason banks haven't lent as much as they should have is that they can't evaluate risk properly. At one point, on a different panel, Karina Litvack of F&C Asset Management said it short and to the point: "Make transparency the vector of growth." (I am not exactly sure what a vector is but it sounded really persuasive).

George Soros said it in his remarks: "investors have have become severely risk averse. Instead of investors competing to pour money into resource rich countries, countries and companies will have to compete to attract needed capital. Information will be at a premium in this new market climate. Investors will want to see your books and they will want to know that the numbers can be trusted. They will want to see political stability. So countries should compete on transparency, accountability and good resource governance because financial regulators will be demanding more disclosure from governments and companies that want to raise funds in their markets."



"...in this difficult financial climate, resource rich countries that implement EITI will have a competitive edge. EITI not only makes vital information public and verifiable. It also promotes a level of trust among the country’s stakeholders that encourages investment."




Ho hum "We are very grateful to the Qataris for hosting us here in Doha" is something I have heard a lot from the dais here. In fact I do think it is very important that a country like this signed up to host the conference, and it has been most generous of them as well. We need them as part of the movement for sure and their interest underscores that this is becoming more and more mainstream, a stated objective of the movement. But is it okay for folks to whine a little, too? It's the familiar brand of cognitive dissonance that comes of anti-corruption activists and officials sipping cappucinos at the Ritz Carlton. It's a coming-of-early-middle age moment (like turning 30). So part of it may just be that the process is maturing and feels a teeny bit as if some of the edge has been lost. It's that feeling you get after 2 exhilarating hours hashing out best practices of accounting and reporting templates. But it's also the way it was when I was 30; I am not worried, it is empowering to be more in charge of your future. And there's plenty of fight, passion, energy,optimism and righteousness to go around still, once we get back to the reality of the places that need EITI to be more open, more just, less poor. So if you have been feeling a little anomie think of it this way: you will have been doubly grateful to be here so that when you do leave you will feel more connected to the mission again. And just to help, we did have that very nice PWYP reception with virtually no snacks except for a few little bowls with oddly chewy peanuts. That's more like it!



It's okay, Gavin, just one more day.

A New EITI

Okay, so it was cool to be elected today to the EITI board. But let's talk about what was actually a little bit interesting if you had been with me at Doha today.

Big-picture macroeconomic 'aha' moment: listening to George Soros speak at the National Oil Company workshop put on by Revenue Watch. I have gotten to listen to George quite a bit on the financial crash and the broader economic crisis over the past few months. Today what I heard that was new and fascinating was how he connected them to the collapse of oil prices. He observed that as the financial crisis gathered pace with the sub-prime mortgage meltdown two things happened: first of all, there was an increasing tendency for investors to seek profits by accumulating natural resources as a hedge; this led to a boom and a bubble in oil prices, partially explained by the fact that the market bought into the deceptive notion of Peak oil. (It's misleading because the half-life of oil projects can move a lot depending on the price, so in fact the potential for creating new energy can be considerably more elastic than the markets believe). Oil prices rose through 2008 without a corresponding rise in demand or consumption. Second, as the credit crunch progressed the dollar declined; this facilitated the price rise but paradoxically also a production drop as it became tempting for producers to keep the oil in the ground rather than monetizing above ground. To do so would have been to take an appreciating commodity and decrease its value by selling it for progressively depreciating dollars. Got that?

At the EITI board the clear emotional highpoint was the validation of Azerbaijan as the first EITI compliant country. As the motion passed the vote someone (was that Karina?) let out a whoop which brought on sustained applause. The most righteous moment was civil society board members' clear and strong statements making it plain that Gabon's treatment of Marc Ona was totally unacceptable; in seeing off Gabon's board membership civil society and the others (including the US) made an implicit pledge to keep absolutely vigilant in the protection of civil society actors in the future. I got the sense in the subsequent discussion that Gabon would have wanted to stayed on the board, but their plans to do so just didn't materialize. Translation: Marc Ona may have been successfully intimidated, but Gabon won the battle but lost the...well just lost this battle for now; hence they were left to twist in the wind with nary a statement of support from governments or companies, save the valedictory praise from our Olympian, for providing the occasion for a "healthy" discussion.

At the Constitutional meeting the EITI Association was founded by a throng of activists in business attire. Why is Jonas Moberg looking at me that way?




An activist questioned the Chairman and Head of the Secretariat about a Mauritanian's candidacy as an alternate on the board.

Breaking-new-ground moment Lorenzo Delesgues of Integrity Watch Afghanistan and Haroun Mir of the Afghanistan Center for Policy Research and Studies flew in from Kabul. IWA has done a very good report (and the only publicly accessible one I know)on the Aynak copper mine deal with China, a staggering $3 bn investment from China Mettalurgical and others. I don't think this deal has gotten the attention it deserves: it might help create some balance between the drug and non-drug parts of Afghanistan's GDP. It was very cool that some of the sharpest minds on Afghanistan took part: Saad Mohseny and Ahmed Rashid.

Celebrity moment of the day Delegates nibbled kebabs and coconut rice under the palms with the former president of Botswana, Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov, the Qatari Minister of Oil and Gas, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. These are the kind of progressive international political personalities that make natural resource transparency nerds like me very excited.

The putting-it-all-back-into-perspective moment Over drinks with Oxfam's indomitable Bennett Freeman Simon Taylor inspirational director of Global Witness said: "I am amazed at how far we've come in so short a time, but there's still so much left to do. I mean, Jesus Christ! we won the basic argument back in 2002 and still in 2009 we have only partially succeeded in some places in accomplishing it."

A good thought going in to tomorrow's meeting.


Neophyte blogger revelation that I don't need to reveal: I am still figuring out uploading and layout of photos. But you get the general idea.

Personal Statement

As we are all gathering here in Doha for the meeting that is going to elect the new board I thought this is as good a time as any to make sure my public statement is accessible, though many of you would have been interested saw this when Radhika Sarin sent it out recently.



Personal Statement of Anthony Richter
Chairman, Governing Board, Revenue Watch Institute

The global economic and financial crisis currently unfolding will present significant opportunities for national and international regulatory reform, strengthening efforts around the global standard in extractives transparency, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The climate for reforming industry and the attendant financing, insurance and regulatory architecture will likely never be more propitious than it is presently. To ensure this time is used to the fullest potential, vigorous civil society membership on the board of EITI at this time will therefore be especially important.

I believe my background both working with civil society and extractive issues prepares me well for board membership; I have a deep and wide network of contacts within the field and am known personally by all of the current civil society members of the EITI board. I have been involved in the issues for nearly a decade. In 2001 amidst high interest in the new hydrocarbon deals in the former Soviet Union I launched the Caspian Revenue Watch project at the Open Society Institute as a way to promote a discourse of accountability and citizen engagement. In 2003 we expanded the work to hold to account the US-led occupation of Iraq and control of its oil revenues. Throughout these formative years I was also responsible for seed funding of grassroots movements on extractives in the former Soviet Union and Mongolia, and gave the start-up fund to PWYP-US. In addition I brought in international NGOs such as the International Budget Project to build capacity and partner with groups in producing countries to monitor expenditure of these revenues. The first publication we issued at Revenue Watch, a civil society manual, Follow the Money, translated into many languages, is now being used to orient civil society activists from Africa to Afghanistan.

Since Revenue Watch Institute became an independent organization in 2006 I have served as chair of its Governing Board and maintain links to civil society through our program of capacity-building, research and advocacy alliances around the world. Second, I travel extensively to Asia, Africa, Latin America, Middle East and Europe. At the Open Society Institute where I am the Associate Director I am deeply engaged in our work in the Middle East, South and Central Asia. I frequently seek the opportunity to meet with related civil society groups in countries where EITI works, or could be expanded. I also am engaged in promoting EITI expansion in new places where I think there is promise and scope, recently in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Turkmenistan. Based in New York, I also travel frequently to Washington for OSI.

If selected for EITI board membership, a particular priority would the promotion and protection of civil society perspectives within EITI. Civil society is an essential source of innovation, vigilance and vitality that enhances the country process, as demonstrated by the inclusion of forestry in Liberia’s process, sub-national reporting in Peru, and corporate social responsibility payments in Ghana. In particular I will stand up for the vigorous defense of civil society harassed and intimidated in EITI implementing countries. The cases of Gabon and Congo Brazzaville are as disturbing examples here that we do not want to see repeated in other implementing countries. The free and independent participation of civil society in the EITI process is fundamental to the entire multi-stakeholder approach.

A second priority is representing civil society as the EITI enters a crucial stage of the validation process where countries will be judged to be compliant or not, a technical as well as a political process. This will require dedication to EITI’s principles, sound judgment as well as the capacity for dialogue.

A third priority for my tenure in the EITI board would be to support passage of the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act in the United States. I will work with all civil society, other civil society board members and particularly those in the US, working closely with the PWYP US coalition members. I will also be ready to meet with US industry and USG representatives as the new congress and the new Administration take forward their commitment to transparency and accountability, and push for the United States take its place as a fully compliant implementing country in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

On a final note - I would be interested to explore creative formats for making my own membership transparent and accessible: I have started this periodic blog, a Twitter account, and the like. I will be open to your ideas.

Arrival blues...

Well, we are not getting off to a good start here, but I guess that happens quite a bit with international travel. Apparently the Sierra Leone delegation was deported from Doha airport after a visa problem. Last I hear they're still nearby, relatively, in Bahrain, and are trying to figure out a way to get back and try again. I wish someone had been able to prevent this and better yet, would get on top of this and fix it. I guess that's the responsibility of the hosts. Sometimes when you try out new venues for international conferences it doesn't always come out smoothly and you don't know why mistakes like this happen. Let's hope it's something trivial and we can get back to the main work at hand

will Azerbaijan be validated at Doha?

The flight from JFK to Doha was smooth and I have had hours and hours to read all the briefing documents for the EITI board meetings here. A big question awaiting us in Doha is the first validation of any country as part of the process. It's absolutely critical that there be a legitimate and credible process and that EITI keeps it moving forward. There are 24 candidate countries now. But someone has to go first. That would be Azerbaijan. There have been many discussions about their validation about whether or not there is a real multistakeholder group. I am remembering now that we got started partnering with Azerbaijani civil society partners quite a number of years ago, with Sabit Bagirov, Ingilab Ahmedov, Galib Efendiyev; then Ilham Aliyev, still not president of Azerbaijan, but with the support of his father, the late Heydar Aliyev, came to London and announced support. So now, it looks like they will be the first. If they are, will they stay true to the process and empanel a permanent Multistakeholder group and continue to publish regular reports? I hope so. And I hope they don't just rest on their laurels but deepen EITI in their own country. It will make for a good precedent; and also a better celebration in Baku later this year.

RWI is in the house.

The first part of the RWI team arrives in Doha

Letter to Secretary Clinton

Letter to Secretary Clinton

This is a good place to start my blog which for the time being will focus on extractive industry transparency issues that I am following as a new civil society board member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). About me: I created a project several years ago, the Caspian Revenue Watch which eventually evolved into what is now the Revenue Watch Institute

I am posting a letter sent by several US members of congress and Senators to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The letter argues for vigorous support of EITI and the US role in it. I think this is an important statement demonstrating that there is growing awareness and political will in the United States to back EITI.