RWI Advisory Board member Ilgar Mammadov, co-chairman of the Republican Alternative civic movement in Azerbaijan, spoke to Revenue Watch about how the experience of transparency activists in the Eurasia region translates to the global movement for open and accountable natural resource governance.
After ten years of transparency work, what lessons do Central Asia and the Caucuses have for other regions?
The first lesson is probably in the name “Revenue Watch.” As we developed better control over the revenue side, at some point we began to understand that the expenditure side is no less important. The control over revenue is crucial for the long-term reputation of oil companies. What is more important for an ordinary citizen, though, is that some governments may have crystal-clear records on the revenue reporting side, but when it comes to expenditures, vast corruption is commonplace. For an ordinary citizen, it does not matter how national wealth is stolen: right from the oil well or through clandestine budgetary processes.
Countries and international organizations should aspire not only to improve revenue reporting but also to introduce and discuss mechanisms to manage expenditures. Otherwise the result may be oil companies that are happy because their reputation is safe, while people continue to suffer under corruption and bad public administration.
On paper, transparency in Eurasia seems very successful.
There are governments who can be proud of their compliance with global standards such as the EITI, but who won’t pursue transparency on the expenditure side. One way to address this problem would be the introduction of transparency standards at the regional level. In the case of Azerbaijan that would be a European standard. Until then, the old debate will continue without much progress.
That being said, hard work by civil society groups continues in the area of revenue monitoring, for instance, on the issue of discrepancies between company payments and government receipts. This challenge will remain even in countries that have shown improvement. It is a never-ending work. It’s not like you reach a certain level then you can relax.
What’s the status of transparency activism in Azerbaijan several years after attempts to repress civil society advocacy?
The 2009 attempts to impose greater restrictions on civil society failed due to opposition from activists and support by the Council of Europe and other international champions of democracy in Azerbaijan. However, the individual harassment of activists continues. Moreover, controlled media very readily reports this repression, in order to scare people.
How have the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa affected Eurasia?
In the Caucasus and Central Asia, the governments are drawing lessons from what happened in the Middle East and North Africa. If you look at non-oil countries of North Africa, over the past 10 years practically all of them doubled, if not tripled, their GDP per capita. The living standards were rising, the quality of life was rising. This is not the time when one usually expects revolutions.
Authorities in our countries, where living standards have also been improving, are concluding that a growing economy is not going to protect them, because the quality of government is no less important to people than the quality of economic well-being. As a result, the countries began to introduce transparency reforms, very slowly and in very isolated areas. It is worthwhile to remember the post-communist transition. Everyone was talking about market reforms then. But the successes took place in the countries where reforms were coordinated and consolidated; other countries’ reforms failed due to a fragmented approach.
Twenty years ago, the idea was that market forces would create improvements in formerly planned economies. That has proven to be true where commitment to reform was strong. Now the key word is transparency, so the Revenue Watch agenda is even more relevant than before.
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