Tuesday, September 17 2019 17:28

ArmInfo. On September 16, as part of a study visit to the UK, a meeting was held with the delegation of the Armenia Extractive Industries Transparency  Initiative (EITI) in the Department of Business, Energy and  Industrial Strategy of the UK Government (BEIS Department).

As ArmInfo was told in EITI, the main purpose of the visit is to study  the UK best practices in identifying real owners. During the visit,  the Armenian delegation got acquainted with the experience of the  United Kingdom in creating a register of real estate owners and legal  rules for registering company owners. The workshop participants  presented the functions, regulatory legal acts, regulatory functions,  cooperation with other state bodies and NGOs, as well as the scope of  cooperation with other countries. Legal mechanisms were also  presented to collect information, ensure data availability, protect  personal data and fulfill disclosure requirements for real owners.

The members of the Armenian delegation studied the technical  characteristics of the Register of Great Britain, online and paper  data submission, as well as the practice of checking embedded data.  Department representatives also presented ongoing reforms and  anticipated international developments in this area.

A study visit to the United Kingdom was organized as part of the  project "Support for Transparency of the Global Initiative for  Extractive Industries Transparency in Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine",  implemented by the German Society for International Cooperation.

Earlier, RA Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan reported that active  work is underway in Armenia to create a system for disclosing the  real owners of mining enterprises. An interagency working group to  identify real owners is working on the development of by-laws to  ensure the disclosure of real owners.

To recall, on March 9, 2017 in the capital of Colombia, Bogota, the  application of Armenia for joining the EITI was approved. Thus, the  republic became the 52nd country using the global EITI standard. This  will lead to transparency in the mining sector and increased  accountability to the public. These factors are essential in the  context of improving the country's business environment. It should be  noted that on the state balance of mineral reserves at present more  than 670 deposits of solid minerals with confirmed reserves,  including 30 metal, are registered.

To note, EITI is a coalition of government, companies, civil society,  investors and international organizations. It was created in 2002 at  the initiative of then Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair at  the conference on sustainable development in Johannesburg. In 2003,  standards were developed and implemented to ensure transparency and  accountability. The initiative is to increase transparency and  improve the quality of governance in the extractive industries by  periodically publishing reports, adhering to standards and  strengthening institutional capacity.