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.
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