Baku, Azerbaijan, April 19
By Sara Israfilbayova – Trend:
Azerbaijan not only maintained, but also strengthened its position after withdrawing from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOFAZ) told Trend on April 19.
“Despite the early pessimistic forecasts of outside experts, various representatives of society and international organizations which are not very optimistic about the fact that Azerbaijan’s withdrawal from the EITI may negatively affect the projects being carried out in the oil and gas sector together with leading international organizations, in particular on "Shah Deniz" project, Azerbaijan not only maintained, but also strengthened its position,” SOFAZ said.
"Azerbaijan has proved its commitment to transparency and accountability regardless of whether it is a member of an international organization or not,” SOFAZ said. “That’s why, today Azerbaijan continues to confidently move forward together with well-known mining companies represented in our country."
After Azerbaijan announced about its withdrawal from the EITI in March 2017, the EITI Committee was established in the country upon Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s decree.
"The president’s decision and the work carried out in accordance with the decree were particularly appreciated by the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank and several other important international organizations," SOFAZ added.
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