The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries participated in the EITI Regional Workshop and the Third EITI Regional Conference in the Americas. These events were held to bring together government officials, civil society representatives, companies and other stakeholders from countries in the region that are considering the implementation of the EITI Standard as a potential tool to help address challenges in the extractive sector in each country.

The meetings addressed issues such as transparency and accountability in the extractive sector, the integration of EITI into government systems, learning and exchange between countries implementing the standard and those considering implementation, how to improve the steps to prepare for EITI candidacy, and possibilities for the next EITI Global Conference in Lima in February 2016.

For the Civil Society Roundtable, these spaces are important because they allow us to learn about the experiences of other organizations and other countries in the implementation of the EITI Initiative, as well as to demonstrate the progress in the results of the Civil Society Roundtable process.

Lastly, this regional meeting made it possible to raise awareness of the Mesa’s position on the importance of achieving greater levels of access to information and visibility of environmental payments and investments made by companies in the extractive sector, taking into account their relevance for local communities.