2nd Meeting of the EITI-Congo National Committee

The Country Validation Assessment Package on the table at the Executive Board on 16 June 2020
08 Jun, 2020

The 2nd meeting of the National Committee of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) of the Republic of Congo was held at the Ministry of Finance and Budget, on Monday 8 June 2020, in Brazzaville, under the chairmanship of the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Finance and Budget, in charge of the Budget, Ludovic Ngatsé, representing Calixte Nganongo, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Committee

This meeting, which took place one week before the EITI Board meeting scheduled for 16 June 2020, was attended by the Minister of Mines and Geology, Pierre Oba, First Vice-Chair of the National Committee. At the end of the meeting, the Permanent Secretary of the EITI National Committee, Florent Michel Okoko, answered questions from the press.

What did you discuss during the meeting?

About two weeks ago, on 25 May 2020, the EITI National Committee met for the first time and set out a number of things to be done in the next 10 days. One of the key things is that, as of today, the Republic of Congo is in a Validation process. It needed to be able to make available to the EITI International Secretariat, based in Oslo, Norway, a number of documents that needed to be validated. These documents have been validated. Today we had an interactive discussion with the EITI International Secretariat via video-conference. These fruitful exchanges make it possible to envisage good collaboration with the international EITI bodies.

The Republic of Congo's EITI Review Report Document was discussed today. This document should lead to a formal response from the Republic of Congo. This has been done. The various amendments were discussed. The Congo is in the process of complying with the EITI requirements in relation to what is required of it. However, all this is based on the fact that, today, the EITI National Committee needed to be able to formalize its various operational entities.

 

And so the EITI Rules of Procedure were approved today. This was the spirit, a constructive spirit, in the presence of the Delegate to the Minister of Finance and Budget, Ludovic Ngatsé, representing Calixte Nganongo, Minister of Finance and Budget, and Minister Pierre Oba, Minister of Mines and Geology, First Vice-Chair of the EITI National Committee, who attended all these debates.

We were in a video conference, which involved our colleagues from Civil Society, the various company representatives and the CEOs of the various State entities represented on the Executive Committee of the EITI National Committee.

It was a particularly strong, happy day, when decisions were taken to advance the implementation of the EITI in the Republic of Congo.

Is the deadline still the end of December 2020? 

From this point of view, the International EITI Board will meet on Tuesday 16 June 2020 and will decide how to proceed with the Republic of Congo's EITI Readiness Assessment. What is certain is that the Republic of Congo EITI National Committee has responded. This response is being made available to international EITI entities. Today, moreover, as part of our relations with the EITI International Secretariat, Minister Ngatsé has indicated that all arrangements will be made to ensure that the Republic of Congo is ready when we want it to be.

You are referring to December 2020, scheduled for the presentation of the EITI-Congo 2018 Report and the EITI-Congo 2019 Report. On this point, we are on schedule. And we are continuing to work to ensure that these Reports are ready.

 

Interviewed by the Press Office of the Ministry of Finance.

Category:NEWS
Sub Category:EITI