Secretary of State Beckmeyer Appoints Multi-stakeholder Group for German EITI Candidacy
Germany is heading towards membership for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
April 21st, 2015
Andrej Bančanský – The Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology with Special Representative of the Federal Government for EITI, Uwe Beckmeyer, appointed members of the multi-stakeholder group (MSG) for the implementation of "Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative" (EITI) in Germany on Monday. The group includes representatives from the private sector, civil society and members of the federal and state governments. The director of the national EITI Secretariat, Johanna Beate Wysluch, accepted the appointment letter.
Together with the German economy and civil society we want to create the conditions for a successful candidacy for EITI membership in the next few months. The aim is to submit our application until the end of the year at the International Secretariat of EITI in Oslo. Until then a lot of work is still ahead of us. We want to make the German commodity sector a forerunner in the provision of open data. Other countries look at us in this sector, therefore Germany can serve as a model internationally," stated Beckmeyer, outlining Germany’s intentions.
With D-EITI, the German government hopes to send a signal to strengthen developing and emerging countries in the common fight against corruption linked with commodity trade. With this step, other countries should be encouraged to follow the exemplary role and engage with market power in the international transparency agenda. The national D-EITI secretariat in Berlin was established by the Federal Government as a neutral mediator to foster the implementation of the initiative in Germany.
The Transparency Initiative EITI was founded in 2002 as an international project founded by then-British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. 48 countries along with numerous international and non-governmental organizations joined in the initiative. It is essentially devoted to financial transparency and accountability in the resource extraction sector. The international EITI standards not only include the publication of payments but it also demands increased transparency in other aspects of resource extraction. These include licensing procedures and conditions of raw material extractions. In addition, the ownership structure of the extractive industries or the contracts may be disclosed. The international EITI Secretariat is based in Oslo and its board of directors ensures the independence and quality of national processes.
Berlin Global
