Bulgan Batdorj MASc candidate in Mining Engineering // April 26, 2015
The inspiration of Mongolia joining the EITI has sprung in 2005. There were many studies conducted by Open Society Foundation in Mongolia, Publish What You Pay and many other independent researchers to corroborate its objective to promote and strengthen the governance of extractive sector in Mongolia. The initiative was seen as an important tool for Mongolian officials to help them to regulate the booming industry which has the potential to either develop the country or destroy it.
Since then for a decade, Mongolia and its slowly progressing democracy (and its economy) has gone through crisis, boom growth and endless political manipulation. It is rather amazing to see that EITI Mongolia has survived the big waves without losing their objectives. They have published 8 reports and each report is highly praised for their comprehensiveness. The Mongolia granted a Compliant country status in 2010 and on its 5th anniversary the EITI secretariat in Mongolia is anticipating the adoption of the Law on Extractive Industry’s Transparency.
With this law, the EITI secretariat will have regular funding will start to focus on educating and advocating the public on how to monitor the wealth of the country being earned and spent. Till now, much of the focus was to campaign the extractive industry and the government officials, especially in an unstable environment of legislation and constant changes in the government officials and structures. Also, the secretariat is pursuing to give the information to the locals and the communities those are affected by the mining activities. Although localizing the EITI in Mongolia is not an easy task, much of a progress already been achieved by the EITI secretariat and its stakeholders.
Extractive industry transparency and the transparency overall, seems to be the important step for the country and the community to take before moving on to accountability and good governance. According to our class studies, many countries are struggling to embrace the EITI for the right purposes due to many reasons, but in Mongolia, the EITI secretariat is certainly lifting more than its weight.