Connect with us

Latest News

EITI: Afghanistan achieves transparency despite barriers

Published

on

(Last Updated On: October 30, 2020)

Following its second Validation, Afghanistan has made meaningful progress in implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Standard.

Afghanistan has been a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative since 2010, but its membership in the organization was suspended due to its inadequate implementation in 2014 and 2017.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in a statement on Thursday said that Afghanistan has improved its transparency of licenses and contracts, state-owned enterprises and quasi-fiscal expenditures. As a result, Afghanistan’s temporary suspension has been lifted.

EITI board congratulates Afghanistan for addressing shortcoming identified in its first validation through systematic disclosures of data delivered by concrete reforms in government systems. 

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani noted the important role the EITI plays in the country. “Every citizen has the right to know who is developing the country’s natural resources and how the government is managing the revenues from these industries on their behalf,” he said. “The EITI is one of the tools that is helping us achieve this policy objective. It has been instrumental in supporting our institution-building efforts in a sector critical to the economic future of Afghanistan.”

The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum announced Thursday that Afghanistan has rejoined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

Building transparent institutions and systems

Afghanistan’s government has embraced open data platforms, establishing online reporting systems to enhance transparency of extractive sector management and to address shortcomings identified in its first Validation. This has been achieved in an evolving political environment marked by presidential elections in 2019 and intra-Afghan peace negotiations in 2020. The World Bank underscored the EITI’s value in driving public finance management reforms in a context of fragility and violence.

In 2018, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MOMP) launched a new Transparency Portal, providing information on licenses, fiscal terms, legal and beneficial ownership information, production data and non-tax company payments to government. Since then, the portal has become even more comprehensive.

Taking action to improve accountability

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are important players in Afghanistan’s extractive sector, accounting for nearly two thirds of government extractive revenues between 2008 and 2017. Two SOEs – Afghan Gas Enterprise and North Coal Enterprise – are strategic for the government’s plans to improve revenue generation from the sector.

In 2019, Afghanistan undertook the landmark achievement of auditing the two SOEs for the first time. This exercise highlighted gaps in the SOEs’ record-keeping and financial management, and was a necessary step in the government’s plans to corporatise the enterprises. Moving forward, the government will need to ensure auditing becomes regular practice, drawing on EITI support to follow-up on findings.

Afghanistan’s government has legislated for beneficial ownership information to be made public for mining, oil and gas licenses. The country began publishing ownership data on its Transparency Portal earlier this year. Yet more work needs to be done to ensure that all beneficial owners are publicly disclosed, including politically-exposed persons and owners who control companies through non-equity means.

Strengthening multi-stakeholder oversight

EITI Board Chair Helen Clark commented on the significance of Afghanistan’s recent progress. “Afghanistan has made concrete achievements in improving transparency despite challenging circumstances,” she said. “The priority should be to draw on this emerging transparency for policy-making in the sector. This is key to broader economic development efforts and ensuring that all citizens have an opportunity to engage in debate on the governance of the sector.”

Data from EITI reporting – spanning several legislative changes and wide commodity price fluctuations over the past decade – provides a key resource to support further research and analysis. But despite proactive dissemination efforts, including in provincial capitals, there is a lack of data use by diverse stakeholders.

Yet an initiative by Integrity Watch Afghanistan stands out. The civil society organisation is expanding its community-based monitoring programme to include extractive activities, empowering host communities to track the impacts of extractive projects in their areas. Stronger engagement in EITI implementation by government, industry and civil society could lead to more such innovations.

Afghanistan’s informal mining sector is one area where there is a high demand for data. While the government collects USD 45m a year in mining revenue, it is estimated that more than six times that amount is being lost through unmonitored, small-scale mining activities. There is strong interest, particularly from civil society, to use EITI reporting to shed more light on unrecorded mining and support efforts to formalise the sector.

According to EITI Afghanistan will have 18 months (28 April 2022) to address the remaining five “Corrective actions” in its implementation of the EITI Standard.

The Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said that the ministry renewing its commitment to implement the corrective actions of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is an international organization that ensures transparency in the country’s mines, gas and oil.

Latest News

Magnitude 5.2 quake jolts Afghanistan

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

An earthquake measuring a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter Scale jolted Afghanistan on Thursday afternoon, the National Center for Seismology reported.

The quake was at a depth of 70km and epicentered in the mountainous north-eastern area of Ashkāsham.

The jolt was felt across the region including in Kabul, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan

There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

In October last year, over 2,000 people were killed when four 6.3-magnitude earthquakes struck in Herat province.

Continue Reading

Latest News

Bayat Foundation helps needy families in Balkh

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

As part of Bayat Foundation’s Ramadan aid campaign, needy families in Mazar-e-Sharif, in Balkh province, received much needed food packages this week.

The aid package includes rice, flour and oil.

“In continuation of Bayat Foundation’s assistance, this time also a quantity of food such as flour, oil and rice was distributed to needy families in Mazar-e-Sharif; Inshallah, these contributions will continue,” said a representative of the foundation.

Needy families that received aid packages expressed their gratitude but called on other aid organizations to help the needy during these difficult times.

“Many thanks to Bayat Foundation, I thank Bayat Foundation for helping the needy and poor people of this region,” said a recipient said.

“I would like to thank Bayat Foundation for their cooperation in helping the needy in this holy month of Ramadan; it is hoped that traders and charities will do such sustainable work,” said another recipient.

Bayat Foundation is one of the charitable organizations that has played an important role in helping the needy in Afghanistan over the last two decades.

In addition to distributing aid packages to needy and vulnerable families, it has carried out numerous other projects, including the construction of health centers and schools.

Continue Reading

Latest News

MoI registers over 8,700 criminal cases in the past six months

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

Abdul Matin Qani, the Ministry of Interior’s spokesman said on Thursday that in the last six months, 8,747 criminal cases have been recorded across the country.

Addressing a press conference in Kabul, Qani said of these cases, 7,233 have been solved while the remaining 1,525 are still being investigated.

He said 12,540 people have been arrested in connection with these crimes.

In addition, 21 kidnappers have been killed, 18 hostages have been freed and 172 people have been arrested in connection with kidnappings in the same period of time.

Qani also said in the last six months 837,000 passports have been distributed. He said three new passport offices will be established in Kabul in the near future.

“10,000 passports are distributed to citizens daily by the Passport Department,” said Qani.

On the issue of narcotics, he said drug cultivation, production and trafficking has been eradicated. He said drug manufacturing equipment and 377 drug factories have been destroyed across the country.

According to him, the ministry has also made advances in collecting illegal weapons, fighting corruption and improving police skills.

Qani stated that during this period, no security incidents took place in most provinces across the country.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2022 Ariana News. All rights reserved!