EITI and sustainable development: Lessons and new challenges for the Caspian region

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is sparking renewed interest and debate on issues such as transparency of government–company contracts, reporting on revenues from natural resources by company and by project, and reporting on revenue expenditure. An overarching concern is how to ensure that revenue transparency ultimately leads to better sustainable-development outcomes, including socio-economic development, poverty reduction and environmentally responsible extractive-industry practices.

This discussion paper highlights key issues and new challenges related to EITI implementation, as well as broader issues of transparency and good governance in the extractive industries.

It focuses on three countries of the Caspian Sea Region: Azerbaijan – the first country globally to become EITI Compliant; Kazakhstan – an EITI Candidate country seeking to become Compliant; and Turkmenistan – which is not a signatory of EITI but has expressed some interest in learning about the initiative.

This paper will be of interest to stakeholders as they prepare for the next biennial EITI conference in Sydney in May 2013. It will also inform the public and stakeholders working towards EITI implementation in the Caspian Region, and contributes to ongoing debates on EITI and sustainable development more broadly.

This publication forms part of IIED’s work to identify pathways towards inclusive and responsible mining.