Contact: in Dili, Dionisio Pereira
(670) 7285744
dpereira@worldbank.org

         
Dili, Timor-Leste, on May 15, 2007, Timor-Leste's multi-stakeholder Working Group for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) held its inaugural meeting, bringing together representatives from relevant government agencies, civil society, and the petroleum industry (see the attached list of EITI Working Group members). This meeting marked the first of a series of discussions on how best to take EITI forward in Timor-Leste. Over the next several months, the Group is expected to prepare a work plan outlining proposed actions and activities. The work plan, and minutes of the Group's meetings, will be publicly available.
   
EITI  is a global initiative, announced by United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002, which supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas, and mining.  The Initiative works to build multi-stakeholder partnerships in developing countries in order to increase the accountability of governments and companies. Former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri stated Timor-Leste’s official support for EITI at the first international conference on EITI in London in June 2003.
 
Speaking at the launch of the EITI National Working Group in Dili, Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Policy, Jose Teixeira, reaffirmed Timor-Leste’s unqualified commitment to the stated transparency objectives of EITI, observing also that “in Timor-Leste we can all see for ourselves with transparency what the government has done, what the companies have done, how much revenue has been received into the State, all these things.”

Indeed, from the outset, the Government of Timor Leste has pursued a rigorous approach to transparency in the petroleum sector. Revenues and contracts are in the public domain, and the Government conducted thorough public consultations on petroleum sector legislation before parliamentary approval in mid-2006. Copies of laws are available on Timor-Leste’s petroleum transparency website.
 
“The World Bank supports Timor-Leste’s efforts to manage its petroleum revenues in a transparent manner and applauds its commitment to EITI as a means to help ensure continued transparency in petroleum revenue management in the future”, said Antonio Franco, World Bank Country Manger in Timor-Leste. “Good governance and transparency are preconditions for the effective transformation of large petroleum revenues into economic growth and poverty reduction. The Bank is also working with the Government to build its capacity for expenditure, so that petroleum revenues, which are channeled through the State budget, are spent on programs that benefit the population.”
 
For more information please visit www.worldbank.org/tl.