Why transparency is important

Based on a speech given by Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and President of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Conference, London, 17 March 2005.

The revenues raised from a country’s natural resources ought to be a force for good but in many cases the misuse of these revenues can result in poverty, corruption and conflict. The greater transparency over these revenues, promoted by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), is one way of helping to tackle these problems. When a country adopts the principles of EITI it means companies operating in that country declare the payments they make to the government and the government declares the corresponding receipts. This provides local people and groups with greater opportunity to question how this money is being spent. In this way EITI helps to improve the management of those resources and promote better governance.

Why transparency is important (PDF, size 163Kb - opens in new window)