Papua New Guinea Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PNGEITI)

14 November 2022

EITI International Secretariat Post Validation Visit to Papua New Guinea

November 11, 2022

EITI INTERNATIONAL MISSION CONCLUDES PNG VISIT ON A POSITIVE NOTE

An EITI International mission led by its Executive Director Mark Robinson to Papua New Guinea concluded today on a good note.

The EITI International team comprised of the EITI Executive Director, the Director for Asia and the Pacific and the Country Lead for Papua New Guinea arrived this week for a 3 days consultation with the Stakeholders that included the PNGEITI Multi-Stakeholder Group including the development partners.

The mission’s main objective was to  meet and discuss the outcome and findings of Papua New Guinea’s second EITI Validation (country assessment report) with various players in the extractive consisting representatives from extractive companies, government departments, extractive SOEs and civil society bodies which provided leadership and guidance in guiding the implementation of the EITI Global Best Practice Standard in PNG’s mining and petroleum sector.

Head of the PNGEITI National Secretariat Mr. Lucas Alkan said “The visit by the international team to Papua New Guinea just under a month after they have issued their verdict on Papua New Guinea’s progress in implementing the EITI Standard  last month recognizes the important role  the EITI  plays in promoting transparency and addressing governance issues in the extractive industry ” PNGEITI head of National Secretariat Mr. Lucas Alkan said.

“The world is in a transitional phase, moving away from carbon dependent fuels to address climate change. In this transition, minerals will play an important role in putting companies and government alike under pressure to mine more as the demand for minerals increase to build carbon neutral machines like electric vehicles.

This means Papua New Guinea will be under pressure to undertake mining and petroleum development activities where there is potential for illegal practices and corruption to creep in given such circumstance.  EITI will play in important role in this transition period to hold authorities and companies accountable for their conduct in managing the sector and to abide by the rules and regulations governing the extractive sector in our jurisdiction.

Photo caption: L-R: Emanuel Bria, Country Officer – Asia, Mark Robinson EITI Executive Director and Lucas Alkan Head of PNGEITI National Secretariat during a press conference held on the last day of the mission, Friday November 11, 2022.  

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PAPUA NEW GUINEA ACHIEVES MODERATE RATING IN ITS SECOND EITI VALIDATION

October 31, 2022

PAPUA NEW GUINEA ACHIEVES MODERATE RATING IN ITS SECOND EITI VALIDATION (COUNTRY ASSESSMENT ON EITI IMPLEMENTATION) 

Following Papua New Guinea first Extractive Industries Transparency initiative (EITI) validation in 2018, the EITI international governing body has issued its second assessment on the country’s progress in implementing the EITI Standard.

The assessment suggests that Papua New Guinea has not made any significant progress from its first validation in 2018 where it achieved ‘meaningful progress’ (satisfactory achievement). The second validation undertaken this year demonstrated that PNG had made ‘moderate progress’ which is basically an average middle score. Though the first validation was based on the 2016 EITI and the second validation was based on the 2019 EITI Standard, the bottom line scoring granted was an average or a median score in the overall EITI global assessment score card.

Released by the EITI Board on 4th October, 2022, the Papua New Guinea EITI Validation report provides a critical and independent opinion and assessment on the role EITI should play in enhancing transparency and good governance in the extractive sector to derive the best outcome for the economy and its citizens from the development of PNG’s rich mineral wealth.

PNGEITI Head of National Secretariat Mr. Lucas Alkan welcomed the EITI Board’s candid assessment and decision on PNG’s effort to implement the EITI, describing it as fair assessment, taking into account the efforts put in by the PNGEITI Multi-Stakeholder Group over the years since 2013 when the Government signed up to implement the EITI.

“The implementation of the EITI Standard in Papua New Guinea had its own set of challenges but steady and improved progress had been made to ensure the quality and comprehensiveness of EITI reporting improved over time by addressing the gaps that were identified in the first validation for PNG to meet all the requirements of the EITI Standards with the objective of becoming a compliant  country,” Mr. Alkan said.

“We consider the second country assessment as consolidating the corrective actions that have been taken and the work currently in progress. PNG has made significant progress in implementing the EITI relative to other economies around the world that are implementing the same EITI Standard.

“Domestically, credit must go to all stakeholders particularly the tripartite body, the Multi Stakeholder Group (PNGEITI MSG) Chaired by the Treasurer. This ensured that the information required by the EITI International Secretariat and the independent validators for this assessment were transmitted with efficiently.

The information and data supplied were highly verifiable which provided the confidence required for the EITI International Secretariat and its independent validators in conducting and delivering the second EITI Validation assessment,” Mr. Alkan said.

“Papua New Guinea has fully met ten, mostly met twelve and partly met seven requirements, with three requirements assessed as not applicable.

I am very optimistic that PNG will soon become one of the leading EITI implementing countries in the world, attributed to the commitment that have been put into the EITI implementation activities over the years by the PNGEITI Multi Stakeholder Group. This level of commitment had grown from strength to strength, influenced by such reviews and independent country assessments” he said.

The EITI is a global standard for reporting company payments and government receipts as revenues from the extractive sector. These payments and receipts are reconciled by an independent auditor and the information is disclosed through the annual EITI reports for public debates.

PNG operationalized EITI implementation in 2015 and published its first report in 2016.  Since then it has so far published seven country reports covering successive financial years. The 2021 and 2020 reports are now being worked on and are expected to be published by December this  year.

Download Full Validation Report: PNG Final Validation report 2022

Photo caption: Members of the PNGEITI Multi-Stakeholder Group, during the first quarter meeting this year. 

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