Today’s column continues the discussion of Guyana’s long declared policy option of seeking membership of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as a cornerstone of its approach to governance of the fast approaching time of oil and gas production and export. Last week’s column had started the discussion, but regrettably, due to space, constraints, gaps and omissions remain in that presentation. The main purpose of today’s column is, therefore, to attend to these issues.
Those related to process are addressed in the next section and the 7-Requirements of the EITI Standard further addressed in the last.
EITI membership
According to official statements on this topic, the Guyana Cabinet has identified the Ministry of Natural Resources (MoNR) as the “lead agency” assigned to complete the “4-steps sign up process” leading to Guyana’s membership of the EITI (G –EITI).
This process had begun with government’s announcement back in May 2010, to seek formal membership in the EITI. This action was later followed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the EITI International Secretariat to facilitate this process.