12-08-05 Azerbaijan will share its experience on the transparency of revenues from extractive industries with Kazakhstan. Executive director of the Azerbaijan State Oil Fund (SOFAR), chairman of the Committee on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Samir Sharifov visited the country on the invitation of Kazakh Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Vladimir Shkolnik.
Kazakhstan intends to use Azerbaijan's experience not only in the oil sector but also other fields of industry, including production of metal, Sharifov told on the results of his visit to Astana.

"The number of companies in Kazakhstan that joined the Initiative is slightly higher than that in Azerbaijan. The initiative will cover not only oil and gas companies but also those engaged in metal production and extractive industries."
Sharifov said that Kazakhstan cited some problems relating to companies' joining the Initiative.
"Not all companies are willing to join the Initiative yet and relevant work is underway in this area."

The SOFAR executive director told earlier that Azerbaijan's model on EITI implementation has prompted interest of foreign countries. Along with Kazakhstan, requests were received from five African countries to provide relevant consultations, as these countries approved Azerbaijan's model for the realization of the Initiative. Sharifov said, however, that “the issue will be slightly more complex for Kazakhstan, as it has many mining industries other than oil and gas”.
According to the Commission on EITI, the first meeting of the international consultation group on the Initiative will be held in London late in August. The group, which is chaired by the head of Transparency International Peter Eigen and includes 16 representatives from four countries, is aimed at implementing EITI worldwide.

The Transparency Initiative was announced by British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the world summit on sustainable development in September 2002. Its goal is to increase the transparency of payments of oil, gas and mining companies made to the government and state revenues from extractive industries. Azerbaijan joined the Initiative at a conference on EITI in London in June 2003.
The memorandum on EITI realization in Azerbaijan was signed on November 24, 2004 by 21 major local and foreign oil and gas companies, including Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR), BP Azerbaijan, Exxon, Statoil, Total, LUKoil, Unocal, Shell, and Devon Energy.

The document stipulates that 22 signatories are required to ensure application of EITI in the country and cooperate with the other signatories in this area, as well as to provide a report on the payments they make to the Azerbaijani government. The government, on its end, issues reports on the contributions from these companies. The data is then submitted to an auditing company, which prepares a general report on the government's receipts from extractive industries.
Azerbaijan has released two EITI reports covering 2003 and 2004.