UK-based mining law and institutional capacity expert to support in analysing Armenia’s legislative and institutional framework of mining industry to ensure compliance with the EITI standard

British mining law expert, Mr. Christopher H. Nurse, will support Armenia in reviewing and analyzing country’s legislative and institutional framework ensuring its compliance with Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Standard for producing Armenia’s first EITI report .

Mr. Nurse, within the framework of the project funded by the British Embassy Yerevan, met with members of Armenia’s EITI Secretariat and multi-stakeholder group (MSG) that comprises government, industry, and civil-society representatives on September 4 and 5. The aim of the meetings was to receive consultative input from MSG members and other stakeholders on all relevant aspects of the Armenian legislation to identify gaps and inconsistencies hindering implementation of the EITI standards in Armenia and to prepare a report with recommendations on legislative and institutional reforms and the action plan.

Legislative and institutional framework analysis is one of the key steps in the EITI report preparation process. The EITI is an international financial transparency and accountability standard for the mining, oil, and gas sectors. To date 52 countries are members of EITI. Armenia was accepted as a candidate country in March 2017, to become a full member, over the next 18 months after this the country would have to present the first EITI Report, afterwards the validation against the Standard will commence.

Mr. Nurse, Founder and Director of Hart Group, has over 40 years of experience in the mining sector. He has worked in a variety of studies and projects supporting implementation of EITI over past 13 years in countries like Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Albania, Nigeria. He has undertaken both EITI reconciliations and validations as well as written EITI reports.

Mr. Nurse is visiting Armenia within the framework of the project funded by the British Embassy Yerevan.  The implementing partner for the project is American University of Armenia (AUA) Center for Responsible Mining. The project called “Support to Enhance Armenia’s Capacity to Implement Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and to Increase Transparency and Accountability in Mining Licenses and Contracts” was launched in July 18, 2017.