Despite the COVID-19 restrictions obstructing progress, there is progress on a technical cooperation between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Papua New Guinea Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PNGEITI) to improve Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) reporting in the country.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global standard for the good governance of oil, gas, and mineral resources. It seeks to address the key governance issues in the extractive sectors. Papua New Guinea is among 52 countries implementing the EITI standard with its first report published in 2016 and the latest report published last year.
JICA was the first development partner to come on board to support EITI implementation after the PNG Government published its first PNGEITI Report in 2016. Over the last three years, the JICA Technical Cooperation Program enhanced efforts to strengthen the government agency’s process for collecting and recording extractive revenues and developing the database and capacity for better management of these revenues.
The PNGEITI project was planned to end in December 2020. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, its termination date was moved to the end of 2021.
During an update on the activity, the head of the PNGEITI, Lucas Alkan, stated that most of the work is still in progress: while some has been achieved, some of the activities have been postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He showcased a delay of consultation round due to travel restrictions, saying that since March 2020, the team of technical officers from Japan who were engaged in the work had been prevented from traveling to PNG to carry out the planned activities.
A spokesperson from JICA’s office in PNG said that despite the restrictions on overseas travel that have been in place since March 2020, the team had endeavored to continue advancing the project remotely and had managed to make progress in certain activities. The source noted that the team will continue to work from Japan via remote communication, guiding ONG specialists with online platforms that are available for various activities. Meanwhile, the team has completed the draft of the revised communication strategy and is in discussions with the PNGEITI Secretariat to finalize this.
However, on-ground coordination did not go as planned either, according to Alkan. He added that the PNGEITI Secretariat has applied for the second phase of the project and is now awaiting a response from JICA Head Office through the Government of Japan.
The primary goal of the PNGEITI JICA Project is to promote resource related revenue management and reporting in accordance with the EITI Standard. It has also contributed to improving data reliability and thus the quality of the report.
The project was initiated in January 2018 with a study tour by key personnel of the PNGEITI National Secretariat to the Philippines to observe a model case of EITI implementation. A group of consultants was contracted and then deployed by JICA in October 2018.
The project entails improving the data systems of EITI reporting entities to equip them with modern tools such as online platforms to help to generate timely data for EITI reporting and other purposes. The country’s regulator of the petroleum industry, the Department of Petroleum & Energy (DPE), is the main beneficiary of this project.
The specific areas in which JICA is helping PNGEITI reporting agencies and stakeholders to better the EITI reporting process include three outputs:
- Output 1: The management of relevant data and information in the Department of Petroleum to be improved
- Output 2: The reporting mechanism among extractive companies and government agencies (mainly PNGEITI National Secretariat) to be enhanced
- Output 3: Awareness and implementation structure for EITI to be enhanced in the country
A revised work plan to cater for the extended period will be finalized between JICA and PNGEITI shortly. DevelopmentAid intends to publish an update on the topic.
