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EITI Armenia presented 5th National EITI Report

20.11.24
EITI Armenia presented 5th National EITI Report

On November 20, 2024, the annual conference of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was held, dedicated to Armenia’s EITI national report covering the 2022 reporting year.

The conference was opened by Tigran Khachatryan, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and Chair of the EITI Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG). In his opening remarks, he highlighted the importance of effective and transparent governance of the metal mining sector and noted that the annual EITI conferences aim to make the activities and data of a sector of significant importance to the country’s economy and public life more visible, accessible, transparent and accountable to the public. Tigran Khachatryan reaffirmed the commitment of the Government and the MSG to meeting the continuously evolving requirements of the EITI Standard and strengthening good governance practices in the sector.

The participants were then welcomed by Mark Robinson, Director of the EITI International Secretariat, who joined the conference remotely. Mark Robinson highlighted the role of the MSG and the National Secretariat in Armenia’s EITI achievements. He noted that Armenia has exceeded certain requirements of the Standard, including the requirement on beneficial ownership disclosure, and has now set a high bar for other countries in this area. In his remarks, the Director of the EITI International Secretariat also thanked the Government of Armenia for its invitation to hold the EITI Board meeting in Yerevan in autumn 2025 and expressed the hope that this upcoming event would provide an excellent opportunity for Armenia to highlight its achievements in beneficial ownership disclosure and present the work being carried out in this area.

Narine Tadevosyan, World Bank Country Program Coordinator for Armenia, also addressed the conference and congratulated the participants on the occasion of publishing another year’s results of activities in the metal mining sector. In her remarks, Narine Tadevosyan reflected on Armenia’s challenging yet effective EITI journey, noting that the World Bank has twice presented this journey as a “success story.” She expressed particular satisfaction that the Government of Armenia remains committed to the continued implementation of the EITI Standard.

Grant Thornton (GT), which prepared Armenia’s fifth EITI national report and served as its Independent Administrator, presented a summary of the national report covering the 2022 reporting year, commissioned by the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia. GT specialists presented the main sections of the report and the data required under the EITI Standard, including annual production, sales and export volumes; revenues received by the central and local budgets from the sector and their allocation; data on the socio-economic contributions of extractive companies; as well as their analysis of the requirements introduced by the 2023 edition of the EITI Standard. The results of the reconciliation of financial data were also presented, with the discrepancy this year amounting to approximately 0.02%.

The second part of the conference featured a short video highlighting the achievements of Armenia’s EITI over the past seven years, followed by a panel discussion.

The panel discussion was entitled “Armenia EITI’s Journey, Achievements and Next Steps” and brought together Narine Tadevosyan, World Bank Country Program Coordinator for Armenia; Viktorya Burnazyan, member of the EITI MSG civil society constituency and Vice President of EcoLur Information NGO; Nerses Karamanukyan, member of the EITI MSG extractive companies constituency and Director of AGAPE LLC; Karen Gasparyan, representative of the EITI MSG government constituency and Head of the Subsoil Department at the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure; and investigative journalist Mkrtich Karapetyan.

The panelists shared their perspectives on the work carried out over the past seven years, the challenges encountered, the opportunities created, the use of data, and expectations for the future. The discussion was highly engaging and featured an active exchange of views. Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan also participated in the discussion, presenting the Government of Armenia’s position on the issues raised during the conference and proposing that the discussion of key issues be included in the working agenda of the Armenia EITI Multi-Stakeholder Group.

Approximately 80 participants attended the conference, both in person and remotely, including members of the Armenia EITI MSG, representatives of the International and National Secretariats, authorized state bodies, partner organizations and civil society organizations.

The preparation of Armenia’s fifth EITI national report and the organization of the conference were supported by the World Bank’s “Support to Armenia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: Additional Financing” grant programme.