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.