On September 26, 2013 SOFAZ hosted an International Conference “10 years of Azerbaijan in EITI. From history to new stage” devoted to the 10th anniversary of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) implementation in Azerbaijan. The Conference aims to put forward the global changes and debates around the EITI in the most recent period, discuss challenges and opportunities in transition to the new EITI Standard, achievements of Azerbaijan in EITI implementation, provide an additional impetus to further EITI development and to share Azerbaijan’s experience with other countries.

The International Conference consisted of 4 sessions: “EITI and Azerbaijan”, “After the Sydney: New EITI standard”, “The role of donor countries and international organizations in the implementation of the EITI”, “The experience of other countries in the implementation of the Initiative”.

During the International Conference participants discussed Azerbaijan’s achievements and experience in EITI implementation in the last 10 years. Azerbaijan launched this process by the decision of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev in 2003.It was emphasized that Azerbaijan is the first country to disclose EITI report (2005) and today is a leading country for the number of disclosed reports (17). Taking into account that Azerbaijan has instituted a regular process of disclosing, reconciling and publishing company payments and government receipts; Azerbaijan is the first country to complete validation, the EITI's quality assurance process which verifies compliance with EITI principles and criteria the EITI Board designated Azerbaijan as EITI Compliant. “EITI Award 2009” for Azerbaijan’s commitment to EITI principles and criteria and its achievements in EITI Implementation was awarded to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s membership in the International Board of EITI which is selected every two years corroborates the country’s leading role in implementation of EITI.

The EITI Standard which was adopted at the VI EITI Global Conference held in Sydney and its implementation procedure were discussed by the conference participants. This Standard is the main regulatory document of the EITI implementation process. The Standard replaces the regulatory documents adopted in the previous years.

The Standard will increase the quality of the reporting by making the EITI reports easier to understand and use and assuring the credibility of the data submitted by the government and companies, advance transparency of the revenues from mineral resources by advocating disaggregated reporting by companies, enhance the effectiveness and quality by implementing significant changes in the Validation process and other improvements in the EITI. Implementation of EITI standard helps Azerbaijan be more active in this area, achieve high efficiency in EITI implementation, encourages more relevant, more reliable and more usable information, as well as better linkages to wider reforms.

Ambassadors of foreign countries, representatives of the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, international organisations, local and foreign extractive industries companies operating in Azerbaijan, non-governmental organizations and independent foreign experts attended the conference.