EITI 2009 report to be launched 25 March

Timor-Leste's compliance with the international Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative was accepted in July 2010, following the publication in late 2009 of its report on oil and gas payments here during 2008. The 2009 report will be released on Friday 25 March 2011, 3:00-6:00 pm, at the Ex-Mercado Lama Convention Center. This event will include comments from the NGO Forum, an EITI working group civil society representative, an oil company representative, a government representative and the President of Parliament.

We hope that this report, released more than 14 months after the reporting period, will provide important information about oil and gas revenues during 2009, which comprised about 80% of our economy and paid for 95% of state activities. This report will complete other 2009 annual reports which omitted data, including those from the National Petroleum Authority and the Ministry of Finance on the Petroleum Fund.

A pre-release version of Timor-Leste's 2009 report was analyzed by Revenue Watch Institute and compared with those from 22 other EITI-engaged countries. Timor-Leste's report ranks a little worse than average, as summarized in this excerpt from the RWI website.

For more information on EITI in Timor-Leste (mos iha lian Tetum), including the 2008 and 2009 reports and commentary, see La'o Hamutuk's website.

Update 6 April: La'o Hamutuk has posted the official version of the 2009 EITI Report to our website in four languages.