At a joint press conference in Paris, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and President of France Francois Hollande announced Wednesday evening that France and the United Kingdom will implement the EITI, the global standard for transparency of government revenues from natural resources.
The two countries will join around 40 other countries in implementing the EITI Standard, which requires full disclosure of taxes, royalties and other fees from the country’s oil, gas and mining sectors.
Chair of the EITI, Clare Short said “I am delighted that the French and UK Governments have committed to implement the EITI. This demonstrates a commitment to getting their own houses in order on extractive industries best practice. It is only through transparency of the production of oil, gas and mining across the world that we can limit corruption, make sure that the sector is well governed, and that the income from it leads to development. In France and the UK, the EITI will hopefully provide a focus for informed debates about the sector. Globally, it will signal that transparent management of the extractive industries is not an aspiration for countries, it is an expectation.”
This announcement comes on the eve of the EITI Global Conference in Sydney at which representatives from almost 100 countries will come together to share best practice on natural resource management.
At the conference, a strengthened EITI Standard is set to be adopted. Ministers for Development Pascal Canfin (France) and Justine Greening (UK) welcomed the revised EITI Standard, saying that that « France and the United Kingdom fully encourage the strengthening and the extension of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) ».
