At the beginning of January, Revenue Watch Legal Advisor Matt Genasci and Advisory Board members Robert Conrad and Joseph Bell traveled to Mongolia in conjunction with the Open Society Forum-Mongolia. During the five-day visit, which was organized at the request of the office of the Mongolian president, RWI met with members of the administration, various ministries and parliamentarians to discuss revenue management, contract monitoring and the possible development of a model contract for use in Mongolia's extractive deals.
While in Mongolia, RWI and OSF-Mongolia also held a public event to discuss contract transparency; contract administration, monitoring and enforcement; as well as the nation's recently-passed Human Development Fund Law—a vehicle for distributing revenue to citizens. Joseph Bell offered a critical appraisal of the law and its implications for pro-development investment strategies.
Mongolia recently completed negotiations for copper and gold extraction with Ivanhoe Mines. With the conclusion of the deal, the country is anticipating sizable revenues to begin flowing into country coffers. The forthcoming revenues further underscore the need for a well articulated development strategy.
RWI, in partnership with OSF-Mongolia, is continuing to work with Mongolia to plan for the effective management of its new revenue, including the drafting of a number of policy briefs for the president and the public, as well as possible articles in the national media that could reach a wider audience of the general population.
The trip also took Revenue Watch staff to China, where we are working with the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID), the Chinese Academy for Social Sciences and the EITI Secretariat to plan a workshop on voluntary standards, currently anticipated for this spring.
China's increasing importance as an international extractives player makes it a country of great interest to the transparency movement. Industry and government leaders have shown an encouraging appetite for conversation on resource management, and RWI will build on the dialogue at this spring's workshop and other possible meetings later this year.
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