National Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative

"Fighting corruption is a priority of Dutch development policy. This is why the Netherlands strongly supports the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). In countries that have signed up to the EITI, oil, gas and mining companies have to disclose how much they pay to the government, and the government has to disclose how much it receives from them. Public disclosure of payments and revenue makes it less likely that money will be siphoned off. Countries rich in natural resources often face what is called the ‘resource curse’ – a higher risk that money will be diverted for corrupt ends or used for military spending rather than development-related activities. The EITI is an important tool in the fight against corruption. It works by making the flow of income from extractive industries more transparent. Because it involves a broad coalition of national public authorities, businesses and NGOs, it is a powerful means to ensure that income goes to development. Many developing countries have difficulty in satisfying the EITI’s detailed requirements. Transparency alone is not enough; verification is also necessary. This means that a proper accounting system needs to be set up. The World Bank supports countries that wish to implement the EITI in making preparations of this kind, so that they can satisfy the EITI requirements. The Netherlands has so far contributed a total of 1.5 million US dollars to the World Bank’s EITI multi-donor trust fund."