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The Iraqi oil ministry,
during the celebration of the Iraqi joining to the EITI, asks the
international oil companies to declare the numbers of oil sales payments
And the formal oil products. By the
presence of the Iraqi oil minister Dr. Hussain Al-Shahristani and the
inspector general and the secretary general of the council of ministers
Mr.Ali Al-Allaq and the deputy minister of the ministry of industry Mr.
Abdullah Mohammed And some representatives of international civil
society organizations and other ambassadors, the Iraqi oil ministry
celebrated the occasion of the declaration of the Iraqi joining to the EITI in a record time in comparison to the other developed countries
which went on to submit their application years ago.
In his speech during the celebration
Dr.Hussain Al-Shahristani praised the efforts of the oil ministry which
succeeded to join Iraq formally to the EITI which makes it the first in
the region and OPEC countries which represents the Iraqi government's
keenness to handle high level of transparency by declaring the oil
imports and exports numbers In order to detect and identify the
spoilers, and the imbalances which helps the spread of corruption in the
oil ministry, and he shown at the same time that The ministry will
continue to be bound by this policy about the dealings in public away
from the oil deals that are held in private like the former regime so
there is no more oil coupons and suspicious transactions.
The secretary general of EITI in Iraq Mr.Alaa
Rasool Mohieddin said that the International Secretariat of the
Initiative in Oslo had issued an official statement confirming the
admission of Iraq by members of the Board of Directors consisting of
twenty members representing the permanent members and its supporters and
civil society organizations and international extractive companies.
Muhyiddin said that Iraq is the largest
country among the members of the Initiative in terms of oil reserves
owned as well as the rates of daily production of oil as well as one of
the first countries in the region and the countries of OPEC in terms of
joining the initiative.
Mr.Ali Al-Allaq shown the blessing of the
Iraqi Prime Minister Mr.Noori Al-Malikin for the joining of Iraq to the
EITI by oil ministry to honor its efforts and assured that this attitude
represents the Iraqi willingness to fight the corruption and spoils.
From his side, the deputy minister of
industry Mr. Mohammed Abdullah shown the support of his ministry to the
EITI in Iraq praising the efforts of the oil ministry which resulted the
Iraqi join as an effective member to the initiative and said that the
ministry of industry took the presidency of the Arab union of fertilizer
in their both kinds which puts Iraq in the field of the fertilizer
exporting countries in a maximum export of 50 million tons annually for
2009.
The spokesman of the oil ministry Mr. Assem
Jihad said that the announcement is the outcome of the tireless efforts
made by the ministry to meet the requirements of accession represented
by the Government's desire to work with civil society organizations as
well as the nomination of the secretary general for the initiative, also
He added that this initiative is concerned with the commitment of
governments and extractive companies to deploy transparently
the proceeds and payments relating to mining of natural resources from
the ground and matching them by the presence of representatives of
civil society. And he mentioned that the oil ministry, represented by
the efforts of the oil minister and its other formations contributed to
solve all the obstacles to succeed the council of the initiative which
was held lately in Baghdad by the sponsorship of the Prime Minister Mr.
Noori Al-Maliki. And assured that the oil ministry asked from the
international oil companies to declare their payments and the production
quantities and all the data related to the exports and match the results
with the declared numbers of the oil ministry.
Mr.Jasser Hontur, the representative of the
extractive companies and the head manager of shell Oil Company praised
the handling of the oil ministry for the first and second licensing
rounds to develop the oil fields which proved by its procedures the
transparency of the oil ministry in signing the contracts and applying
them.
It is noteworthy that the total number of the
members in the initiative is 33 countries and is hoped to raise the
number when another 3 countries completes the procedures of joining
which begun two years ago.
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