TODAY.AZ / Business

SOFAZ may get technical assistance from WB

21 December 2016 [14:02] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan’s state oil fund SOFAZ, which accumulates and manages oil and gas revenues of the country, may get technical assistance from the World Bank (WB).

The sides discussed the issue during the meeting of the Multi-stakeholder Group (MSG) on implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Azerbaijan on December 20.  The assistance is expected to cover the use of EITI Mainstreaming mechanism within the implementation of the initiative.

Other issues on Agenda included 2015 EITI Report, the EITI Board’s decision and corrective actions for Azerbaijan, EITI Terms of Reference, as well as implementation status of Work Plan for the current year, defining the objectives of the 2017 Work Plan and agreement of the policy on the access, release and MSG policy on the re-use of EITI data.  The World Bank team held a workshop for the MSG members on EITI Mainstreaming mechanism.

EITI is a special multilateral and voluntary initiative, supported by a coalition of companies, governments, investors and civil society organizations and global standard for improved transparency in the oil, gas and mining sector.

Azerbaijan, joining EITI in 2003, received the "2009 EITI Award" for its commitment to EITI principles and criteria and achievements in its implementation.

 In April 2015, Azerbaijan’s EITI status was downgraded from “compliant” to “candidate”. The international EITI Board took the decision at its meeting in Brazzaville, Congo following the EITI Validation Report.

The Candidate status was maintained in the 35th EITI Board Meeting held in Astana, Kazakhstan on October 24-26, 2016. The EITI Board agreed that Azerbaijan had made meaningful progress with implementing the EITI Standard with considerable improvements across several requirements compared to the first Validation in 2015.

Azerbaijan joined the WB in 1992. The bank has allocated more than $1.85 billion for implementation of various projects since the beginning of its cooperation with Azerbaijan.

Assets of SOFAZ as of October 1 stood at $35.82 billion, with some $33.95 billion accounting for the investment portfolio and 1.87 billion falling to a share of manat account.  The Fund plans to increase its assets by $1 billion in 2017.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/business/157123.html

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