The 14^th Caspian International Oil and Gas Conference discussed on June 7, 2007 the "Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - towards a global norm for revenue transparency" during the panel chaired by Shahmar Movsumov, the Executive Director of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the National EITI Committee and Jon Ramberg, the Ambassador of Royal Norwegian in Azerbaijan.

At the opening speech Jon Ramberg noted that Azerbaijan was among the first to join the EITI, in 2003, as a pilot country, and it was among the first to appoint a leader for the effort, to establish a multi-stakeholder committee, to draft and approve work plan and to publish audited and reconciled EITI reports. "Azerbaijani authorities see that they need the EITI - urgently - as one of several means to avoid the many dangers in a fast-growing economy as is now the case in Azerbaijan."

Lawrence Bristow, the UK Ambassador in Azerbaijan said in his speech that Azerbaijan was the first oil producing country in the world to produce reports under the initiative, and earlier this year completed its fifth set of EITI reports. "Azerbaijan is set to be the first participating country to go through the validation process," - ambassador emphasized - Emphasizing that the initiative was taking on a truly international flavour he said: "Azerbaijan and other participating countries have shown that it is possible to produce meaningful reports under the initiative and that these can contribute to better management of oil and gas revenues. The time has now come to look to the future of EITI."

Making speech at the Conference Ms. Anita Utseth, Deputy Minister of Petroleum and Energy of Royal Norwegian assessed the experience of Azerbaijan, the leading country in EITI implementation, as very important. Underlining the SOFAZ's winning of the prestigious 2007 UN Public Service Award in the category of "Improving transparency, accountability and responsiveness in the Public Service" as a significant event, she said that other countries must be interested in learning the experience of Azerbaijan, pilot country in implementation of EITI.

Shahmar. Movsumov made a presentationon " Implementation of EITI in Azerbaijan". Informing the audience about implementation of EITI in Azerbaijan he underlined that the Initiative already became a current process in the country. The Chairman of the EITI Committee noted that by implementing EITI the government of Azerbaijan achieved full accountability and transparency in oil and gas revenues. Emphasizing the importance of transparency for investment enviroment Mr.Movsumov said: "EITI also assists in strengthening accountability and good governance, as well as promoting greater economic and political stability."

Suleyman Gasimov, the Vice-President of SOCAR informed on his company's participation in EITI implementation process.

Sverre Olden Mala, the representative of Statoil in Azerbaijan said that the establishment of State Oil Fund was important contribution to increased transparency and sustainable development. He noted that SOFAZ won the 2007 UN Public Service Award, due to the successful implementationof EITI.

Clare Bebbington, Communications and External Affairs Director of BP noted that Azerbaijan was invited to become a member of the multi-stakeholder board that will manage EITI globally. "I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the State Oil Fund for the UN Public Service Award - becoming the first government agency to be accorded this honour among Eastern Europe and CIS countries."

Sabit Baghirov, the member of the non-governmental organizations' Coalition for Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries made a presentation about the role of civil society in EITI implementation.

Jonas Moberg, Head of EITI Secretariat, the representatives of the NGOs of Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan made speech at the conference.