EcoLur
The process of discovering the real owners of the metal mining industry within the framework of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Armenia will also cover other areas.
“By joining the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in March, 2017, Armenia undertook to publish, as of January 2020, the public register of real owners of metal mining companies. To meet this commitment, a legal analysis was carried out, and efforts were made to develop a system of exposure of real owners in a multi-beneficiary format. And in April, 2018, the National Assembly adopted a set of laws defining the process and scope of the exposure of real owners. This built up a legislative groundwork for the discovery of real owners,” Deputy Chief of Prime Minister’s Staff Liana Ghaltakhchyan said at the workshop, referred to as “Transparency of Real Owners,” held today in Yerevan.
According to the Deputy Chief of Prime Minister’s Staff, together with 14 other governments, Armenia has joined the Open Owners Leadership Team within the OGP framework to form the Global Real Owners Discovery Platform.
Both in the government program and under the forth Open Government Partnership Initiative Action Plan, as approved by the Government in 2018, the Government has undertaken ambitious reforms, including legislative changes in key areas. One of these ambitious commitments is the process of exposing real owners,” Liana Ghaltakhchyan said.
Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Lilia Shushanyan noted that in the process of drafting legislative regulations related to the mining industry, they were guided by the vision to serve them in other fields in the future, which is now becoming a reality. It also allows Armenia to assume global leadership alongside a few pioneering states.
In his turn, Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan went on to note that in recent years several governments across the globe have acknowledged the need for easy access to information about real owners in the fight against tax avoidance, money laundering and corruption. “The Armenian authorities today, more than ever, are committed to the obligations assumed under the OGP and stand ready to endeavor towards disclosing information about real owners,” Rustam Badasyan said.
Highlighting the importance of conducting a workshop on this topic in Armenia, Executive Director of the Open Government Partnership Sanjay Pradhan noted that Armenia is viewed as a bright spot for democracy within OGP member states, and Armenia’s non-violent velvet revolution came as a universal inspiration for all. He emphasized that at this point the Government is set to turn the democratic revolution into an economic revolution. In this context, Sanjay Pradhan emphasized the importance of identifying real owners as a primary tool in the fight against corruption.
During the workshop, Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan and Open Ownership Executive Director Thom Townsend signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide technical support to ensure the real owners' transparency.
The event was hosted by the Open Government Partnership, USAID and the Transparency International Anticorruption Center.
This material has been prepared within “Mining-Impacted Communities – Full Participants in EITI Process'” project implemented by EcoLur with the USAID support within the frames of “Engaged Citizenry for Responsible Governance” project implemented by Transparency International Anticorruption Center.
This article is made possible by the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
October 30, 2019 at 14:46