The Chairman of the International Board of `Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative` (EITI), Fredrik Reinfeldt and the head of the International Secretariat of the organization Jonas Moberg met with the current and former members of EITI NGO Coalition, Monitoring group and the represenatives of Multilateral Group.

The EITI International Board initated a meeting.

`The distorted information was spread on behalf of the meeting and discussions of the EITI NGO Coalition. Furthermore, making a statement on the meeting is a breach of ethical rules`, the statement of NGO Coalition reads, AzVision.az reports.

It was said in the statement that Ingilab Ahmedov was endorsed for moderator in the meeting in regard with the state of the Coalition. If there were need to give information on the meeting, Ingilab Ahmedov would better issue a statement.

Hafiz Hasanov, a member of Monitoring Group covered the amendments to the law regulating the NGO activities and decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan in his speech at the meeting:`The decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers on making amendments to the `Rules on Registration of Grant Agreements /Contracts (Decisions/Orders)` dated January 11, 2017 and ` the Rules on obtaining the right to provide grants in the Republic of Azerbaijan by foreign donors` dated January 24, 2017 remove the false impediments in the registration of the grant contracts and requirements that can be cause of the bureaucracy. Additionally, the decisions facilitate the registration process. The scope of submission documents is decreased. Some of the documents are not required to submit a notarized copy. Grant contracts can be registered as service agreements. At the same time, the process of providing grants by foreign donors is highly facilitated. The number of submission documents is cut down. The period for responding to the applications is diminished by two times. Procedures were confirmed to refuse expressing opinion on economic purpose of the grant`.

`All these must be noted as a great development. However, the amendments on providing grants by foreign donors and registration of grant contracts signed with foreign donors should continue`, Hasanov said.

A former member of the Council of the EITI Coalition, Taleh Aliyev called attention to the monopolization and politicization of the Council of Coalition by a group of people: `A group of six people deepen the destruction of the Coalition and do not consider the will of the Coalition members. It is of importance to prepare second Corrective Measures Plan in order to shed light on the issues regarding Azerbaijan`.

`The Board of the Coalition serves the political interests in contradiction to the principles of the EITI. The EITI uses the Coalition as a shield and mislead Civil Society to provide its political interests. Consequently, destruction tendency in the Coalition gets strong and an environment of distrust in the Council becomes deep. It will be impossible to restore the previous monolith unless the Coalition calls emergency General meeting and establishes a brand new Council`, a former member of the Council of Coalition, Nijat Daghlar noted.

`Several members of the Board of the EITI -a group of six people turned the institution into a place for political fight. They tend to create a monopoly in adoption of decisions. This group makes an effort to use the Coalition to reach their political aims by adopting illegitimate decisions. The Coalitions is turned into a platform for political statements. Furthermore, they approve member requests of their closed ones in order to strengthen their positions.

They do not inform the Coalition about the decisions adopted on behalf of the Council of Coalition. In some cases, they try to introduce the EITI International Board as a punishment institution. The latest statements and interviews by some members of the Council clearly identify that they intend to threaten and blackmail the public, Civil Society and the government`, a member of the Council of Coalition, Alimammad Nuriyev highlighted.

Nuriyev raised concern over the misuse of position by the member of the EITI International Board.

The Chairman of the International Board of `Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative` (EITI), Fredrik Reinfeldt provided information on his meeting with the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. He called his meeting as a successful and fruitful meeting. Furthermore, he emphasized, Azerbaijan is a loyal to the partnership with the EITI. The discussion was held on the implementation of necessary measures to restore the full member status of Azerbaijan in the EITI.

`The EITI has its own standard. All interested sides, as well as the Civil Society must have a chance to freely perform activities regarding the EITI. The human rights are of capital importance but are not included to the mandate of the EITI. We evaluate the assessment in regard with the EITI process`, Fredrik Reinfeldt added.

Fredrik Reinfeldt expressed his regrets over the situation in the Coalition: `The chairman of the EITI International Board is informed of all processes.

As the meeting stuck to its allocated time, it was impossible to fully discuss many issues on the activity of the Coalition.

`The statements of a group of members of the Council of Coalitions and distorted information spread on behalf of the Council serve to deepen the destruction and provide the group interests`, the last part of the statement concludes.


AzVision.az

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