Yemen wins EITI membership

PARIS- March 2, 2011- Yemen was accepted on Wednesday as the first country in the Middle East joining the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

The announcement was made by the EITI board at the 5th EITI Global Conference running in Paris on 2-3 March.

Amir al Aidrous, Minister of Oil and Minerals, head of the Yemeni delegation to the meeting, said Yemen's joining the EITI will promote transparency in extractive industries which can help boost investment in the country.

For his part, head of the Yemen EITI Council, Muhammad Muqbil, said the accession affirmed Yemen's inclination to adopt transparency as one of the pillars of good governance in payments and returns of the extractive industries sector.

In November 2010, Yemen published the first report on extractive industries for 2005-2007 that included oil incomes and data about payments by companies producing oil in the country and the government returns during the three years.

In 2007, Yemen was nominated for the EITI membership.

The EITI includes governments, companies, civil society organizations, investors and international organizations working on improving the public management system in natural resource-rich countries through publishing reliable information about company payments and government returns from oil, gas and minerals activities.

Source: (Saba)