EITI benefits for TT via Guyana

Guyana's acceptance to be a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) could have benefits for this country, TT EITI chairman Victor Hart says. He made the comment following Guyana’s entry into the EITI at the Initiative’s meeting in the Philippines last week.

“Guyana is developing its oil and gas industry at a rapid pace and by joining the EITI, the country’s citizens will have greater assurance on what they earn from their hydrocarbon resources and if there are any revenue leakages,” Hart said. He explained that through the EITI, Guyana’s citizens will have independently verified data to help guide discussions on how best the revenue earned can drive their country’s sustainable development.

He predicted that Guyana and TT will partner in the EITI. He said this partnership would help to strengthen the ties between TT and Guyana’s energy sectors.

Hart said these efforts are being fostered by the government and private sector organisations such as the Energy Chamber. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Energy Chamber CEO Dr Thackwray Driver have spoken publicly about opportunities for TT in helping Guyana to develop its energy sector.

Guyana joins TT and Suriname as the other Caricom countries which are EITI members. Hart said as an EITI International Board Member for the implementing counties of EITI Region Six, he has oversight responsibility for the implementing countries in the Americas plus four in Europe (Norway, Albania, UK and Germany). The USA, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic are the other countries in the Americas that are in the EITI.

TTEITI is currently partnering with the British High Commission on the second phase of a series of regional capacity building workshops to promote best practice in natural resources management in Caricom. Some of the target countries in this exercise include Barbados, Belize and Jamaica.

The project is being funded under the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Prosperity Fund Project. These workshops will seek to promote transparency, accountability and improved natural resources management in the extractive sectors (oil, gas and mining) of the countries through EITI adoption and implementation.