Concerned citizens of the world have become accustomed to unsettling headlines, but one in particular last Thursday signalled a serious, if not surprising, shift for the worse. The US, once a leader on anti-corruption around the globe and a pioneer in calling for transparency in the oil, gas and mining industries, withdrew from Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
In February, in one of its first acts of lawmaking, the Trump Administration, with the Republican-controlled Congress, rescinded a pending Securities and Exchange Commission rule that would have required oil companies to disclose details of their payments to international governments in connection with oil and gas production.
The United States has a president whose contempt for the well-established norms of our political system never ceases to shock the world. President Trump has refused to release his tax returns, ignoring a long-standing benchmark of financial transparency for political candidates. He has also declined to address a whole series of looming conflicts of interest resulting from his complex business empire. As a result, he now finds himself facing multiple lawsuits – including from members of Congress and the governments of Maryland and the District – on the grounds that he may have violated the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution, which forbids U.S. officials from receiving favors from their overseas counterparts.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is pushing ahead with plans to lend $500 million to Azerbaijan’s Southern Gas Corridorproject after the nation was suspended from an international oil-wealth transparency watchdog.
There is a mystery unfolding in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Officials there seem to have removed the United States from a singularly successful anti-corruption effort. This has happened largely in secret, aside from a few public statements in legalese that are nearly impossible to parse. At times, bureaucrats in the department have behaved in ways that – it’s hard to think of another word – seem un-American, literally silencing dissent in open forums and abruptly cutting off contact with the public.
Far from business as usual, this year has seen swift and critical changes in the movement for accountable and open natural resource governance. Political developments have brought the fight for transparency and accountability out into the open, drawing attention from the international media and impartial observers.
U.S. President Donald Trump has promised a bloodbath for regulations. He argues that regulatory overreach hinders commerce and stunts economic growth. Even if that’s true, he likely won’t be able to deliver what he promises by attacking the regulatory edifice alone. That’s because the companies that drive the U.S. economy are multinationals. They will still have to follow regulations elsewhere, which will mute the impact of killing those regulations at home. Indeed, the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a good example of how globalization will sap the power of Trump’s plan.
The United States remains committed to the "principles and goals" of the global transparency initiative to fight corruption in managing revenues from oil, gas and mineral extraction, it said on Wednesday.
Baku reacts to suspension for failing to address civil rights concerns.
Blog by NGO DIXI Group, Ukraine
Last week, a probable sale of a stake of Devon to a Russian businessman Pavel Fux and non-renewal of two special permits for subsoil use of Evraz Sukha Balka were revealed. These companies are among those who ignored the submission of information under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), including information involving the disclosure of final beneficial owners.
