The Committee for monitoring and implementation of the Initiative for transparency in the extractive industries held a session on Thursday in Yaoundé.

Cameroon acceded to the status of countries complying with the transparency Initiative in extractive industries (EITI) October 2013 to October 2014. This is a coalition of States, companies and civil society organizations that promote transparency and governance, so that revenues from the extractive sector will be channelled into the improvement of the living conditions of people.

In the light of this, Cameroon celebrated his new status, with key promotions and discounts of medals awarded on an exceptional basis by the president of the Republic to the members of the EITI Committee, "for their outstanding involvement in the attainment of the status of compliance", according to the Minister of Finance (Minfi), Alamine Ousmane Mey, also president of the follow-up Committee and implementation of the EITI.

"We have worked within the Committee, at the level of the secretariat technical relationship with the international secretariat, to continue actions around this initiative", explained the Minfi Thursday at the headquarters of the Committee in Yaoundé. It was discussed during the session of the day, as a first step, the validation of the terms of reference for the 2012 and 2013 conciliations.

The conciliation is somehow a comparative work of the statements (on the items checked out and revenues) for extractive industries and the amounts actually collected by the State. To Minfi, 'it was urged to adopt the work plan that has been developed and amended for the 2014-2016 period. This is what gives a certain roadmap for initiatives and actions which will punctuate the work of this Committee over the next three years."

In the coming weeks, "the Committee should implement the dynamics of conciliation made for 2012 and 2013 and present the results of this work of collection to the national and international community.

Furthermore, the meeting of last Thursday allowed them to decide on the Organization of the Committee. "It is necessary to make our technical secretariat more efficient, more able to conduct its missions and benefit contributions, both for the State as well as the oil and other companies who are financial partners", said Alamine Ousmane Mey.

He noted that it is in 2016 that the international coalition will focus the actions of transparency and governance of States with regard to the EITI. Cameroon works therefore to keep its status in conformity to the standards.