Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 26
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has kept Azerbaijan’s status in the organization as a candidate country, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) said in a message Oct. 26.
The message says that the decision was adopted during the 35th session of the EITI International Board in Astana.
“The Azerbaijani delegation led by SOFAZ Director Shahmar Movsumov also took part in the session,” according to the message. “The EITI Board, taking into account Azerbaijan’s progress within the second evaluation and on a number of requirements, decided to keep the country’s candidate status.”
EITI is a special multilateral and voluntary initiative for improving transparency in the oil, gas and mining sectors. Azerbaijan joined the EITI in 2003. Azerbaijan was awarded the 2009 EITI Award for its commitment to EITI principles and criteria and achievements in EITI Implementation.
In 2015, EITI lowered the status of Azerbaijan in this structure. The decision was made at the 29th meeting in Brazzaville held April 14-15 after the discussions on a report on Azerbaijan.
Following the discussions, the EITI Board decided to lower the membership of Azerbaijan to the candidate status.
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