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EITI IN AZERBAIJAN- KEY EVENTS CHRONOLOGY- 2005
(based on the
Coalition information)
EITI IN AZERBAIJAN- KEY EVENTS CHRONOLOGY- 2005
(based on the
Coalition information)
-
December 28, 2005 - a roundtable- press conference devoted to the results of the Coalition activities in 2005 was held. Attendance was the members of the Coalition Council and representatives of local media. A special press- release on the Coalition's activities in 2005 was dieributed among the journalists. S. Bagirov made the presentation of the report on the Coalition's activities in 2005 and NGO Coalition action plan for 2006. The other members of the Council also presented their personal opinions on these issues. Everybody who made a speech appeal the journalists to take an active interest in transparency issues regarding oil revenues and their usage, to draw the public attention to these problems. At the end the members of the Council answered journalists' questions on the Coalition's activities. -
December 20-21-22, 2005 - A member of the Coalition Public Finance Monitorinq Center held three days workshops in the frame of EITI on the subjects of transparency of oil revenues including oil contracts. Inqilab Ahmedov, Azer Mehtiyev, Qubad Ibadoglu, Fuat Rasulov, Sabit Bagirov, Mayis Gulal;yev and Zohrab Ismayil made presentations on above mentioned subjects. -
December 16, 2005 - The 6th General Meeting of the Coalition of the Azerbaijan NGOs"For Improving Extractive Industry Transparency" was held in Baku.The Report of the Coalition Council was presented and discussed at the meeting. The plan of the Coalition activities for 2006 year was adopted. 2 persons that had been applied for memberships joined the Coalition. So, the Coalition members increased in number to 49. New members of the Coalition Council and members of Monitoring group were elected.  -
November 24, 2005 - A round table discussion was held for NGOs on the subject "Extractive Industry Transparency and the Development of Local Communities" at the International Press Centre within the framework of a project financed by the Ebert Foundation and implemented by a member of the NGO coalition on EITI, the Foundation to Assist Entrepreneurship and Market Economy. -
November 2005 - The book by Mayis Gulaliyev, member of the NGO coalition on EITI, entitled "What is Good Governance" was published -
November 15, 2005 - Representatives from more than 20 NGOs- members of the Coalition of NGOs for Improving Transparency in Extractive Industry and BP- Azerbaijan oil company headed bythe President Mr. David Woodward had a meeting at the conference hall of Baku Hyatt Recency hotel. The importance of themeetingwas raised by the Coalition members at the meeting of Working Group of the parties to the MOU last month and was adopted by BP- Azerbaijan. BP- Azerbaijan oil company is one of the main investorsto theAzerbaijan oil sector and participant of several oil contracts, at the same time operator of AIOC- the international consorsium of oil companies.M-r Woodward made a report about the activities of BP in Azerbaijan, its planned works and expected results of such activities for Azerbaijan. Mr. Sabit Bagirov, coordinator of the NGO Coalition notified the importance of holding such meetings regularly and for this purpose offered to establish a special working comission with the members from the both sides. The offer was accepted by all. Then the representatives of the oil company answered different questions and remarksof the Coalition members on BP activities in Azerbaijan. It was decided to continue such kind of meetings in 2006. -
October 2005 - The book by Sabit Bagirov, coordinator of the EITI coalition, entitled "International Transparency Initiatives and Azerbaijan" was published. -
October 8, 2005 - Within the framework of the project "EITI principles and the goals and activities of the NGO coalition in this direction", the Union of Merchants and Manufacturers held a conference under the same title in the city of Lankaran.The conference was attended by parliamentary candidates, their proxies and authorized representatives, voters and representatives of the local media and NGOs. During the conference, the participants were given a booklet entitled "Increasing awareness of the activities of Azerbaijan's extracting industry by parliamentary candidates and the provincial public" and copies of lectures. Registration forms to support the Extracting Industry Transparency Initiative were distributed and the parliamentary candidates were given appeals from the NGO coalition. During the conference, it was suggested that those who want to support the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative join this initiative. Twenty-four of the 40 parliamentary candidates who participated in the conference supported the initiative. Along with the parliamentary candidates, this initiative was also supported by other participants in the conference (16 people). -
6 October 2005 - A round table discussion was held for journalists at the Baku International Press Center. This was the last round table discussion organized for journalists by the Center for Economic and Political Research (headed by coalition coordinator S. Bagirov) within the framework of a grant project supported by Germany's Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The purpose in holding it was to increase the journalists' awareness of the use of the EITI in Azerbaijan and abroad, its essence, principles, criteria and recent events. At the round table, which was attended by up to 20 journalists, coalition coordinator Sabit Bagirov presented the participants with a report that covered this issue and answers questions of interest to them. -
1 October 2005 - In connection with the project the EITI principles and the goals and activities of the NGO coalition in this direction, the Union of Merchants and Manufacturers held a conference under the same title in the town of Guba. The conference was attended by parliamentary candidates, their proxies, and authorized representatives, voters, representatives of the local media and NGOs. Members of the Coalition Fuat Rasulov and Sabit Bagirov presented their reports and covered the following subjects: - Agreements signed by the Azerbaijani government in connection with the exploitation of natural resources and the results expected from the implementation of these agreements; -The essence of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative and the tasks of the civil society; -The NGO coalition and its goals and activities. During the conference, it was suggested that those who want to support the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative join this initiative. Eight parliamentary candidates who attended the conference accepted this proposal and signed a declaration to support the initiative. Along with the parliamentary candidates, other participants in the conference (three people) also joined this initiative. AGN Mak to collate next EITI reports Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) reports for the first 6 months of the year 2005 will be collated by AGN Mak Azerbaijan LTD following the decision of the Selection Group, which was established in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the governmental Committee on EITI, foreign and local extractive industry companies (oil and gas) and the NGOs' Coalition for Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries to implement EITI in Azerbaijan. Tender has been announced by SOFAZ, as it is to pay the audit company's fees for collation of the third cycle reports as per MOU. Envelopes containing proposals from 2 internationally recognized audit companies- Deloitte & Touche and PriceWaterHouseCoopers - operating in the Republic of Azerbaijan and AGN Mak Azerbaijan LTD, the local audit company, which is the member of the Accountant's Global Network were unsealed on September 29, 2005 at the meeting of the Selection Group to assess the financial and technical proposals of the bidders. Five companies were invited to bid, but Ernst & Young and Moore Stephens declined the invitation. -
September 24, 2005 - In connection with the project EITI principles and the goals and activities of the NGO coalition in this direction, the Union of Merchants and Manufacturers held a conference under the same title in Sheki. -
September 22, 2005 - BP-Azerbaijan invited coalition coordinator Sabit Bagirov on 22 October, clarified questions in form No 0 and said that apart from one question, which could be regarded as a commercial secret, it was possible to answer other questions. Bagirov reminded the participants that the coalition had earlier appealed to BP to organize a meeting with members of the council of BP's appropriate specialist to clarify issues related to commercial secrets in projects. On 22 October, the coalition received a reply that in order to answer questions of interest to the coalition in connection with the activities of BP, the president of BP-Azerbaijan, David Woodward, was ready to meet representatives of the coalition. The venue and timing of that meeting will be clarified soon. -
September 21, 2005 - the Work Group on the EITI held a meeting at the Oil Fund. The meeting was attended by representatives of BP, ExxonMobil and Devon Energy, the chairman of the state EITI commission. S. Sharifov, and representatives of the coalition- Sabit Bagirov and Sevgim Rahmanov. The coalition's new proposals (new report forms offered by the coalition - 6 June 2005 and changes proposed by the coalition to the Agreement Document - 19 April 2005) called Agreement Document in connection with the memorandum were discussed and a decision was made not to accept the switch to new report forms, because the proposed changes went beyond the EITI principles and require their further expansion. At the same time, a proposal was made that the coalition can file a direct appeal for issues of interest to it (for example, to the AIOC for form No 0 for the operator). While discussing the coalition's proposal in connection with individual statements, the BP representative said that they had already made individual statements and had published them in the press and on their website. BP also appealed to other companies in connection with the publication of their reports in an individual manner. Five companies have already agreed to this. The coalition's proposal regarding relations with auditors was adopted with some changes in the text. Another proposal of the coalition - mention of the establishment of the working group in the memorandum - was also adopted. It was decided to continue the discussions at the next meeting. -
September 05- 07, 2005 - a three day training for the mass media was hold and it was conducted in the form of lectures combined with business games and discussion on ways of ensuring greater transparency of oil revenues in Azerbaijan. Some journalists attending the course were from the regions. Topic of the training presentations: -
General info about the PSAs. Other agreements, their comparison and specific features -
Basics of the oil economy -
Risks. How do companies tackle the risks? -
Cash flow regulated by the PSAs. -
Oil assessment/ Transportation costs -
Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli: Azerbaijan's exemplary oil agreement? -
September, 2005 - the Coalition Council member Qubad Ibadoglu's book "Black gold in the light of transparency" was published. -
September 01, 2005 - the Coalition Council made an appeal to members of the election blocs standing in the 2005 election to the Milli Maclis (Parliament) of the Azerbaijani Republic -
August 25, 2005 - The new version of the Coalition's website carries on operating. -
August 23, 2005 - A roundtable for journalists was held at the Baku International Press Club. The roundtable was organized by the Center for Political and Economic Research (led by the Coalition's coordinator, Sabit Bagirov) as part of a grant project supported by the German F. Ebert Foundation. As part of project, another roundtable is to be held for journalists. The objective of the roundtables is to increase journalists' awareness of the EITI application in Azerbaijan and abroad, as well as the essence of the EITI, its principles and criteria. During the roundtable, which was attended by about 20 journalists, a member of the Coalition's Council, Inqilab Ahmadov, made a presentation called "Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, EITI". The presentation was very interesting for journalists. A competition for the best journalistic article about the EITI started on August 4. -
August 05, 2005 - the Coalition Council made an appeal to the candidates standing in the 2005 election to the Milli Maclis of the Azerbaijani Republic  -
August 04, 2005 - Azerbaijan discloses second EITI report. Click the links below to see the ariopriate documents -
Joint Press- release -
Report of the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan (host government) about aggregated receipts from the extractive industries (Reporting period Annual, Jan-Dec 2004) -
Independent Accountants' Report (for the year ended 31 December, 2004 -
INPEX of Japan joins EITI (SOFAZ ress- release) INPEX Southwest Caspian Sea, Ltd., a subsidiary of INPEX of Japan became 22nd extractive sector company that joined Memorandum of Understanding on implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Azerbaijan. Instrument of Accession to MOU was signed by INPEX on July 19, 2005. The National Committee on EITI, 21 foreign and local extractive industry (oil and gas) companies and non-governmental organizations signed MOU on November 24, 2004. Samir Sharifov, the Executive Director of the State Oil Fund and Chairman of the EITI Committee said: "By executing the Instrument of Accession, INPEX demonstrates its willingness to cooperate with all other Parties to the MOU and its commitment to EITI principles. We welcome the decision of INPEX as it falls in line with the policy of the government of Azerbaijan to ensure transparent management of oil revenues". INPEX Southwest Caspian Sea, Ltd. was invited by the National EITI Committee to accede to the MOU earlier this year. INPEX has 10% stake in Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field development project. The company failed to submit the report on payments to the government of Azerbaijan for the years of 2003 and 2004 as it has not yet established its local representative office. -
On July 19, 2005 - A round table(RD) meeting on "Oil revenue and State budget" was held at the office of National NGO Forum. It was the third from the series of RDs are to be held this year for NGOs and sponsored by F. Ebert Foundation, Germany. Representatives of NGOs attended the RD and took active part in the discussions. In his opening speech Sabit Bagirov, Coordinator of the Azerbaijan NGO Coalition"For Improving Extractive Industry Transparency" gave brief information aboutthe current state of implementation of EITI in Azerbaijan and fothcomings. After, the Member of the Coalition Council Qubad Ibadoglu made a slide- report on "Oil revenue and State budget". The slides in Azeri are available at the Coalition site ( ..\..\azl\feal\QIb_Neftgelirleri_ve_Budce.pdf ). -
On July 13, 2005 - the first media- forum in the frame of grant project "The role of mass- media in improving transparency in extractive industry" was held at the office of the daily newspaper "Baku- khabar" ("Baku- news"). The project is sponsored by OSI AF (Azerbaijan). The guests of the forum were Sabit Bagirov and Qubad Ibadoglu- both the members of the Council of the Coalition of Azerbaijani NGOs "For Improving Transparency in Extractive Industry". An announcement about the forum was made in this newspaper for several days before the forum was held. Telephone numbers and email addresses of the newspaper were given in the announcements for the readers and other interested people, that they could call or write and ask their questions. Some readers sent there questions beforehand, others phoned directly and asked questions mainly about oil revenue, the ways of ensuring transparency in extractive industry, public oversight on oil revenue, audit procedures and other issues of transparency. The guests of the media- forum Sabit Bagirov and Qubad Ibadoglu answered to the questions. The questions and answers were published on the newspaper "Baki khabar" on July 18. They pointed to the main non- transparent facts in oil industry of the country. For example, it is already five years that no audit has been carried out in State Oil Company. Another problem is the "flourishing" corruption in which the country has been bogged down. It was particularly noted that in such an environment of corruption to make oil revenue to serve to the people's benefit is almost impossible. The participants of the media- forum agreed in opinion that the Coalition should take care of civil society's more active involvement in transparency initiative to achieve its goals. -
On July 12, 2005 - there was held a meeting between Mark Henstridge, the Head of the BP's Macroeconomics Department and a group of the Coalition members at the office of the Coalition. Mark Henstridge gave a presentation on global energy trends, to coincide with the launch of the latest BP's Statistical Review of World Energy. At the end he answered different kind of questions of the participants. -
June 27-29, 2005 - The first part of training sessions for trainers on the subject of "PSA analysis" was held at the office of the Coalition to Improve Transparency in the Extractive Industry. The training was organized by the Public Funds Monitoring Center, which a member of the Coalition. The training was provided by a well-known expert in oil issues, Dr. Peter Wells (Neftex Petroleum Advisors). The training was organized by members of the Coalition and listeners received certificates at the end of it. The second training session will be conducted by Michael Levitski and Bermet Sidigaliyeva from the World Bank. -
June 17, 2005 - The second meeting of the working group comprised of the parties which signed the MoU at the Oil Fund was held. The meeting participants familiarized themselves with the new reporting forms of the Coalition. The decision was made that representatives of the Coalition would meet with those of BP to examine the reporting forms. The issue of individual disclosure of information was also raised. A representative of BP said the company was ready for it, but the issue needs to be further elaborated together with other oil companies and the government. -
June 14, 2005 - A member of the Coalition to Improve Transparency in Extractive Industries (ITEI), the Union of Producers and Merchants (UPM), held a conference on "Improving the awareness of the Azerbaijani rural community of extractive industry activities" in Ganca. The conference was part of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Azerbaijan. The conference was attended by around 70 representatives, including those from Ganca and neighboring regions, NGOs, the media, local municipal and executive bodies, businessmen and others.  -
June 10, 2005 - The Declaration of Support for the EITI was adopted by the citizens of the Azerbaijani Republic.  -
June 6, 2005 - The Coalition sent draft changes to the MoU and the reporting forms to the parties to the Memorandum. The forms are as follows: - New reporting forms proposed by the Coalition (June 06, 2005) - Changes proposed by the Coalition to the MoU (April 19, 2005) June 2, 2005 - The first meeting of the working group comprised of the parties which signed the MoU at the Oil Fund was held. The Coalition was represented by three people at the meeting - Sabit Bagirov, Zohrab Ismayilli and Sevgim Rahmanov. The parties discussed ways of introducing changes to the MoU. The following issues were mainly discussed: - How important is it to amend the MoU - Operator company's joining the MoU (this suggestion was put forward by the Coalition last year) - Whether the issue of associated gas should be dealt with separately in reports - Impex has tentatively agreed to join the MoU - Four to five companies agree to individual disclosure, but if there is no unanimity they won't be able to do that either. The discussion of the issue will be continued. - The parties will send their suggestions to others early next week - The next meeting of the working group will be held on June 16. -
May 19, 2005 - A joint meeting of parties to the MoU was held at the State Oil Fund. The following issues were considered: -
A regular meeting of the Selection Group was held and a representative of companies was elected its chairman -
The envelopes sent by auditing companies will be opened on May 23 and an auditing company will be selected for the next stage. Members of the Coalition on the Selection Group must take part -
The auditing company will prepare an aggregate report for 2004 and issue an opinion. -
A working group comprised of representatives of all the three parties will be set up and starting from 2005 it will be preparing reporting forms and changes and additions to the MoU -
The Coalition has officially submitted its suggestions concerning changes to the MoU -
The following people were nominated for the Coalition's working group: 1. Sabit Bagırov;2. İnglab Ahmedov;3. Zohrab Ismayıl; 4. Sevgim Rahmanov -
The issue of individual reports will be discussed within the working group -
Measures will be taken to eliminate the irregularities in initial reports and these measures will also be discussed by the working group -
Confidential issues must be duly specified and a roundtable will be held to that effect at the Coalition's suggestion -
The Coalition expressed its discontent over the refusal by Delloitte and Tush auditing company to respond to the Coalition's suggestion. The MoU and any documents to be signed with an auditing company must stipulate that the auditing company is responsible for answering the Coalition's queries concerning reports. -
April 21, 2005 - The fifth out-of-turn meeting of the Coalition was held and the following issues were discussed: -
Council's report -
Reporting forms and improvements and changes introduced to the MoU by the Coalition (results of the government's and companies' initial reports and the Council's suggestions on ways of improving transparency) -
Proposed changes to the Regulations of the Coalition (the issue of setting up an Observation commission to supervise the Council's activities) -
Electing members of the Observation commission -
Admitting new members to the Coalition -
Current issues -
On Aprel 11, 2005 - OSI AF supported project for "Raising of public awareness in the regions of Azerbaijan on extractive industry's activities" was presented by Mr. Sevgim Rahmanov, the head of "Unity of merchants and manufactureres", the member of the Coalition. 12 conferences are planned to be held in different regions of the country, where representatives of local communities and mass- media will attend. The participants will receive information on certain pecularities of the oil contracts, expected oil revenue BTC oil pipeline and etc. -
On April 8, 2005 - The Coalition Council met to discuss the latest developments of EITI implementation in Azerbaijan and outline the further plans of activities of the Coalition. April 6, 2005 joint- conference at the Oil Fund office was considered as rational and constructive. It was decided to held the 5th extraordinary general meeting in April 21, 2005. -
On April 6, 2005 - A joint- conference of the MOU signatories and Deloitte & Touche representatives was held at the Oil Fund office to discuss thefirst cycle of EITI reports' disclosure and further activity on EITI implementation. In his presentation Mr. S. Sharifov spoke about the outcomes of the first reporting phase of the implementation of EITI in Azerbaijan and made some clarifications. The participants had an exchange of views and representatives of the government, extractive companies amd Deloitte & Touche answered questions raised by members of the NGO Coalition. Some weak points of the implementation were noted and some suggestions on its improvement were made. The participants decided to submit their suggestions on further improvement of the development of the Initiative in Azerbaijan by April, 12. -
On March 31, 2005 - A press- conference of the Coalition Council dedicated to the publication of the first oil revenue reports disclosed by the Government of Azerbaijan and independent accountants reports under EITI was held at the International Media Centre in Baku. The Members of the Coalition Council noted that, however the disclosure had a great importance for the internationally implementation of EITI, there arised a number of drowbacks and questions on the documents published. A special press- release was distributed at the press- conference.  -
On March 31, 2005 - A roundtable meeting on ""Who, how and why should monitor oil revenue?""was held at the International Media Centre in Baku. That was the second from the series of RDs are to be held this year for NGOs under the project being supported by the Ebert Foundation. The member of the Coalition Council Ingilab Ahmedov made a speech on this issue and answer the questions of participants on how to organize and conduct the oil revenue monitoring. -
On March 16, 2005 - British Embassy Baku welcomes the publication of Azerbaijan's first reports under EITI: Press Release  -
On March 15, 2005 - The Committee on Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ("EITI") established by the government of Azerbaijan announced the publication of the Government's first reports (2003 annual assertion and 2004 first 6-months assertion) audited by Deloitte & Touche, the independent Aggregator. The published documents also include the Aggregator's opinion based on individual submissions of independent extractive industry companies participating in the EITI process. The full report as well as the Aggregator's opinion on the document has already been disclosed on the State Oil Fund (SOFAZ) website: http:// www.oilfund.az and the EITI Secretariat of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) website: http:// www.eitransparency.org/implemetation.htm and the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Coalition for Increasing Transparency in the Extractive Industries of the Republic of Azerbaijan website: http:// www.eiti-az.org . -
On March 14, 2005 - a meeting of representatives of the Government Comission on EITI, local and foreign oil companies, Coalition Council and audit company Deloitte & Touche was held at the office of the State Oil Fund. The representatives of Deloitte & Touche announced, that auditing of the first reports of the government and oil and gas companies in accordance with the Memorandum signed for implementation of EITI in Azerbaijan finished and the corresponding auditor's report was ready. It was decided to publish the reports of the government and the auditor's report in 1 or 2 days and a news release on behalf of all three parties. The representatives of the Coalition stated that they would give their constderation to those matters, almost to the whole EITI process going on in Azerbaijan in a special press- conference which would be held after the auditor's report was studied. -
On February 28, 2005 - A round tablediscussion (RD) on "EITI in Azerbaijan:role of NGOs in implementing EITI in the country" was held at the office of National NGO Forum. It was the first from the series of RDs are to be held this year for NGOs. Representatives, mostly leadersof 26 NGOs (many of them are not members of the Coalition yet)attended the RD and took active part in the discussions. In his presentation Sabit Bagirov, Coordinator of the Azerbaijan NGO Coalition"For Improving Extractive Industry Transparency" gave brief information aboutthe current state in oil and gas sector of the economy of the country and EITI implementation in the world and Azerbaijan. They were informed about the IFIs' new disclosure of information and energy policies drafts that have beenlaunched for public consultations.Headviced the participants to be more active in this process not only in Baku, but also in remote regions, discussand send their recommendations on the draft documents which are still on public discussions. -
On February 18,2005 - a jointmeeting organised by the Coalition of Azerbaijan NGOs was held in Baku to discuss the problem Do oil companies have to payprofit tax when they assign their share in PSA contracts?. Representatives of the Coalition, State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), State Oil Fund, Lukoil Overseas and mass media took part in the meeting. The problem is that some companies (including SOCAR, Pennzoil, MacDermott, Lukoil) have not pay taxes since they assigned their share in Azerbaijan oil contracts.The participantsdecided to address a request to Milli Madjlis (Parlament), Ministry of Taxes, SOCAR, Lukoil Overseas and other international oil companies (which assigned theirshare) for their clarifications on the issue. The next meeting to continue the discussions of this problem will be arranged after the oficial opinions of them are received. -
On January 28, 2005 - IMF Draft Guide on Resours Revenue Transparencyand IFC Disclosure Policy were discussed in ameeting organised by the Coalition of Azerbaijan NGOs - EITI - Azerbaijan.The draft documents were presented by Mr. Inqlab Ahmedov and Mr. Sabit Bagirov, members of the Coalition Council. Participants made their proposals for raisingthe level of transparency in the activities of financial institutions, governments and industry. The proposalswill be sent oficially as the proposals ofEITI- Azerbaijan on thesedraft documentsto corresponding adresses and placed in website www.eiti-az.org . -
On January 28, 2005 - IMF Draft Guide on Resours Revenue Transparencyand IFC Disclosure Policy were discussed in ameeting organised by the Coalition of Azerbaijan NGOs - EITI - Azerbaijan.The draft documents were presented by Mr. Inqlab Ahmedov and Mr. Sabit Bagirov, members of the Coalition Council. Participants made their proposals for raisingthe level of transparency in the activities of financial institutions, governments and industry. The proposalswill be sent oficially as the proposals ofEITI- Azerbaijan on thesedraft documentsto corresponding adresses and placed in website www.eiti-az.org .
Last correction date of the file: 26/12/2009 - 14:54:2
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