EITI and UWI Strengthen Ties
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus
Central to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is the close collaboration between the three extractive sectors stakeholders: government, companies and civil society. That coalition promotes transparency and accountability in the exploitation of a country’s natural resources and encourages the direct involvement of citizens. In that triad, the role of the three collaborators are different but complimentary:
Government’s role is that of manager of the resources as a trustee on behalf of the citizens who own the resources;
Company’s role is that of investor that explores for, develops and markets the resources for a profit; and
Civil society’s role is to ensure that citizens interests are looked after in the extractive process, their patrimony from its wealth is protected and revenues due from the companies to the government are paid in full.
In the Civil Society constituency, academia is seen as an important player among the many interest groups. It was for that reason that the TTEITI Steering Committee, that oversees EITI implementation, made attempts from the outset to forge a solid working relationship with the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Thus it was that, after an initial informal working arrangement with UWI’s Economics Department and the Institute of International Relations, a formal arrangement was entered into on November 6 2013 between UWI’s St. Augustine Campus and the TTEITI Steering Committee by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a period of 3 years.
Under that first MOU, UWI’s Trade and Economic Development Unit (TEDU) collaborated with the TTEITI Steering Committee and Secretariat in hosting several capacity building workshops locally and in Jamaica, Suriname and Guyana for government, companies and civil society stakeholders. In addition to sharing knowledge of best practice in natural resources management in the extractive sectors, a tangible outcome from that initiative was Suriname and Guyana’s admission to EITI membership in 2017, joining Trinidad and Tobago to become three Caricom members.
A second MOU was signed last month by the parties to continue the work begun under the first MOU with target countries this time around being Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica and The Bahamas.
Professor Brian Copeland, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal, signed on behalf of UWI, and Victor Hart, Chair TTEITI Steering Committee, signed on behalf of the TTEITI Steering Committee.
The parties recognise the mutual benefits of strengthening their collaboration to enhance the local and wider Caribbean countries capabilities in good governance in the extractive sectors with transparency and accountability.
The aim is to improve the region’s understanding of the nature and significance of contemporary management issues in the extractive sectors and the application of emerging global governance trends such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
The parties have agreed to continue to undertake collaborative activities locally and in the wider Caribbean aimed at (a) building capacity in the extractive sectors to better assess the social, economic and environmental knowledge and the benefits of EITI implementation; and (b), enhancing EITI education and understanding of its implementation methodology through public outreach events.
The programmes and activities will be carried out by faculty, staff and students of the TEDU and other Departments of UWI, members of the TTEITI Steering Committee and Secretariat and any other mutually approved staff of other organisations.
At the MOU signing, Professor Copeland said, among other things, that UWI welcomed collaboration with the TTEITI Steering Committee because it gave its talented research graduates and students the opportunity to contribute towards the development of an important governance initiative such as the EITI.
TTEITI Steering Committee Chair, Victor Hart, said that, in his view, the EITI was the most important governance initiative currently being implemented locally because it protects the people’s patrimony and our children’s inheritance derived from the wealth of the country’s natural resources.
It also supports government’s ongoing drive to maximise the country’s revenues earned from the oil and gas sectors as a strategy to overcome the current severe economic recession.
The EITI is the global gold standard for resource revenue transparency and management and has been adopted by 51 countries worldwide, including many of T&T’s trading partners in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.
The EITI’s mandate is to collect and disseminate independently verified information on revenue payments made to government by the oil, gas and mining companies operating in the country’s extractive sectors and independently audit and reconcile those payments with government’s declared corresponding receipts.
The published data empowers citizens to better hold government and companies accountable for their stewardship.
The data is disseminated through annual EITI Reports and T&T has published four such reports to date covering Fiscal Years 2010 to 2015.
Based on the reports’ findings, approximately $122 Billion in revenues have been paid to government by about 50 leading extractive companies over six years.
The Independent EITI Administrator/Auditor has reported $840 million (i.e. less than 1%) in differences between companies’ declared payments and Government’s declared corresponding receipts and all discrepancies have been audited and satisfactorily reconciled.
The reports have also provided extensive recommendations on improving Government revenue collection, data management and audit and assurance processes.
Data published in the reports have also informed the findings of the recent Gas Master Plan and assisted the country in meeting its obligations to the Open Government Partnership.
Caricom countries from Suriname and Guyana, in the South, to Barbados and Grenada, and Jamaica and The Bahamas in the North, are poised to join Trinidad and Tobago as energy players with their developing energy sectors.
Trinidad and Tobago has shown its willingness to share its 100 years energy sector experience with the newcomers and has begun collaboration with them so as to prevent them from having to reinvent the wheel and so avoid some of the mistakes they may otherwise make.
The partnership between UWI and the TTEITI Steering Committee is generating projects that will complement Government’s own energy diplomacy initiatives and assist in achieving its regional objectives.
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