OREANDA-NEWS. The World Bank welcomes the decision of the International Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) on assigning Kazakhstan the status of a “compliant country” with regard to observing the international standard of transparency of revenues from extractive industries.

Getting the EITI compliant status is an example of how advanced international standards can catalyze a number of positive changes including an increase in budget revenues, improved investment attractiveness and country's image in the international arena.

“Globally the World Bank endorsed EITI as an important tool to increase transparency and information sharing in the extractive industries sector. Our interest in EITI is part of our overall governance strategy, and in many countries, including Kazakhstan, the Bank works with governments on EITI agenda as part of broader Bank-supported programs on extractive industries reform, natural resource management, and good governance/anti-corruption,” says Sebnem Akkaya, World Bank Country Manager for Kazakhstan.

From the very beginning of EITI implementation in Kazakhstan, the World Bank has provided advisory support to the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the National EITI Council within the Joint Economic Research Program, along with financial support of the EITI-MDTF Civil Society Direct Support Program.

The Government of Kazakhstan has initiated EITI validation process in 2005. Making quick progress, the country received a special prize at the 4th Global EITI conference in 2009 in Doha for its strong EITI awareness efforts across the country. In 2009, the country reinforced the EITI compliance process by strengthening representation of stakeholders in the National EITI Council to include government representatives (from ministries of industry and new technologies, oil and gas, finance), members of Parliament, oil and mining companies, including KAZENERGY Association and Association of Mining Producers, and extended NGO dialogue platform.

Over the eight-year period of active cooperation among stakeholders under EITI, seven national reports disclosing revenues from the extraction of natural resources were released and available to public at <http://www.geology.gov.kz/ru/eiti>. The reports include disclosure of social expenditures by companies and budget classification codes for the reported revenue streams. The latest report includes data from 170 companies - the most by far of all the 35 EITI reporting countries.

As part of EITI compliance, Kazakhstan will continue to provide annual reports on the implementation of the initiative. Re-validation of EITI compliance will be carried out every three years.

Kazakhstan has the largest recoverable crude oil reserves in the Caspian region. The hydrocarbon industry is estimated to account for roughly 50% of the government's revenues (BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2011).