The Nigerian Natural Resource Charter (NNRC) and Africa Progress Panel (APP) have welcomed Canada’s recent announcement that it would establish new mandatory reporting standards for its extractive companies.
Ademola Oshodi, project manager, NNRC, said: “This is good for natural resource-rich developing economies like Nigeria. The fight for a fairer and transparent oil and gas sector has just gotten another major boost.”
The APP also applauded last week’s plenary vote in the European Parliament approving EU Transparency and Accounting Directives.
Canada, which is home to some of the world’s largest mining companies, has long been seen as reluctant to embrace the trend to improve transparency in extractive industries.
Canada’s announcement that it will now establish new mandatory reporting standards brings the country in-line with the direction taken by the US and the EU.
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The vote in the European Parliament creates a binding legal requirement for EU-listed and large privately owned oil, gas, mining and logging companies to publish all payments over €100,000 to governments in every country where they operate. This brings the EU in line with similar extractive industry transparency rules in the United States.
“This is a good day for transparency and is a major step towards a world where developing countries are paid fair prices for their mineral resources,” says Caroline Kende-Robb, executive director of the APP. “These developments, coming only days before the G8 Summit in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland, increase the chances that the G8 Summit will provide agreements for strong action to improve rules to fight tax avoidance an evasion, and ensure transparency in extraction deals. It has become increasingly clear that governments and business understand very well the benefits of transparency for political and social stability.”
The NNRC is part of the Natural Resource Charter, a global initiative which aims to support governments and societies of resource-rich countries to harness the economic opportunities of extractive resources.
