Eurasia Hub’s Events in 2013
In 2013 Eurasia Hub has delivered a number of courses in some Eurasian countries, based on the country needs.
On December 13-14 Revenue Watch Institute and Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption organized the first Regional Workshop of Parliamentarians of Eurasia. 19 MPs and MP assistants from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan participated at this regional event where the topic was “Managing Oil, gas and mineral resources”.
RWI staff members Galib Efendiyev, Femke Broumer, Andrew Bauer and Eurasia EI Knowledge HUB director Ingilab Ahmadov covered topics on Value Chain, Resource Governance Index and places of countries from Eurasia Region in RGI, Managing and Distributing Extractive Revenues, Budget Cycle and Extractive, as well as Natural Resource Funds.
The groups of mixed country representatives participated on practical sessions, where country profiles of RGI, Natural Resource Fund of Kazakhstan, Revenue Management in Azerbaijan were discussed. Resource Governance Index recommendations.
There were active debates and discussions on Natural Resource Fund transparency and independent oversight. Case of Kazakhstan was discussed and MPs shared their opinions on how oil money could be managed, spent and invested.
On the second day of the workshop Eurasia EI Knowledge Hub director, Dr. Ingilab Ahmadov made a presentation on extractives and budget cycle. In practical session participants were asked on their opinion on budget offices at parliaments.
On November 21-23rd Eurasia Extractive Industries Knowledge Hub organized training on “EITI new Standards” in Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan. Trainers Ingilab Ahmadov and Fariz Ahmadov delivered topics on “Place of EITI in Value Chain”, “Conception and practice of application of New Standards”, “Reporting within new Standards”, “Typical mistakes in completion of reporting forms”, as well as “Opportunities of establishment of Sovereign Wealth Fund in Kyrgyzstan”.
The training was attended by medium and high ranked officials from the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Energy, State Agency on Geology, Members of the Parliament, representatives of local authorities, EITI Secretariat, as well as independent consultants and experts. More than 40 people participating in practical sessions analyzed new Standards and also problems existing in decision making within different agencies, for example issuing license on field development and further control.
In this training Eurasia Hub applied ToT method and used trainer and expert potential of HUB in Kyrgyzstan. Such, 2 alumni of the Hub participated in training providing, and 4 others delivered their expertise on extractive sector and main problems on transparency in Kyrgyzstan.
The training was conducted by qualified instructors of the GRBS training center on 11-13 November in Baku. The purpose of the event was to built graduates’ skills and capacity in the field of training and to train new trainers in extractive industries in Eurasia.
During the training event, 8 participants from 4 countries-- Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine -- gained valuable knowledge on needs assessment, development of a training program, training methods, preparation of professional presentations, management questions and answers, audience management, work with challenging participants, evaluation, and so on. At the end of the training, based on their newly-acquired knowledge, participants prepared and presented training programs.
Eurasia Knowledge Hub held this “Training Trainers” course for the third time. A total of 22 new trainers of Eurasia Knowledge Hub have been prepared. With their help, the Center organizes large-scale training events in 13 countries involved in extractive industries in the Eurasia region.
On September 21-23, 2013 the Eurasia Knowledge Hub together with Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), Publish What You Pay (PWYP) and International Business and Economic Development Center in Batumi, Georgia organized a Regional Workshop for CSO representatives of nine countries of the Eurasia Region. This was the first regional event after adoption of the New EITI Standard in Sydney this year.
Representatives from Azerbaijan, Albania, Mongolia, Moldova, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Ukraine participated at the workshop. The first two days of the event were devoted to capacity building on New Standards. The training resulted in civil society identifying key national priority areas to advance implementation of the new EITI standard. Common issues centered around a public registry of licenses as well as a transparent license tender process, volume of production, better disclosure of information from state-owned companies, contract transparency, beneficial ownership as well as more information on how the revenues are allocated in the national budgets.
In August 22-24, 2013 the Eurasia Knowledge Hub held training on “Revenue management" in Kazakhstan. The training was held in Almaty, but also attended by researchers from Astana, Shymkent and Semipalatinsk. The trainer Ingilab Ahmadov delivered training sessions that covered topics on value chain and revenue management in this chain, modules on revenue management,
practices of numerous countries, sovereign wealth funds, including the fiscal rules applied in management of revenues and studies of oil revenues. Additionally, the participants were told about comparative analysis of experiences of both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on revenue management and toolkit developed by Revenue Watch Institute.
industries value chain, EITI new standards, reporting, and macroeconomic framework for resource-rich countries, Sovereign Wealth Funds, revenue management, revenues distribution at the sub-national level, state oil and gas companies, budgeting and budget advocacy were provided.
On July 4-6, 2013, the Khazar University Eurasia Knowledge Hub held a routine 3-day training on “Revenue management and economic diversification in the petroleum rich countries" in Baku, Azerbaijan.
There were about 20 participants in the event, including representatives of research institutes, universities, government agencies, media, and civil society from 6 countries - Azerbaijan, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
During the training, presentations on revenue management, macroeconomic framework for resource-rich countries, Sovereign Wealth Funds, revenue management, revenues distribution at the sub-national level, state oil and gas companies, economic and export diversification and its measurement, from economic diversification to sustainable development, and more were made. Interactive discussions were held on all the topics that had been presented, and participants were divided into groups to perform specific tasks in group work.
Course has been conducted according to the program developed by the experts of the Revenue Watch Institute.
Participants were evaluated on daily base by trainers during the whole training. The alumni who earned the highest results from their evalutions will be invited to a "Training for Trainers" traditionally organized at the end of the year by Eurasia Knowledge Hub.
Petroleum Rich Countries” at the School of Economics and Management of Khazar University. The course was delivered by the dean of the School of Economics and Management of Khazar
University and the director of Eurasia Hub Ingilab Ahmadov, economists Gubad Bayramov and Kenan Aslanli, and the Khazar University faculty members Namik Khalilov and Nijat Garayev . During eight days, students learned the specifics of petroleum economy, revenue management and economic diversification in the oil rich countries. Not only students of Khazar University, but also students of foreign universities participated in Course. At the end of the summer school, 25 students who participated in the course passed the exam and were awarded with certificates.
This is the second summer school organized by Eurasia Hub at Khazar University.
On May 7-10, 2013 the Eurasia Extractive Industries Knowledge Hub arranged 4 days study tour for Afghanistan EITI MSG delegation. Eleven MSG members representing all stakeholders had meetings with the government representatives, extractive companies, audit company and CSO organizations. Another important element of this study tour was workshop titled “Towards EITI Compliance” organized by Eurasia Hub.
During the workshop the participants obtained knowledge and skills on new EITI standards, reporting requirements and specifics of Afghanistan, validation process, problems that occurred in Afghanistan during last validation process, as well as communication policy within EITI development.
On March 4-10, 2013 Khazar University’s Eurasia Knowledge Hub held its routine training session entitled "Value chain: production towards sustainable development.” About 20 members of civil society, media representatives, representatives of government agencies, and universities from six countries--Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Mongolia-- participated in the training.
The presentations were made on subjects such as contracts in the extractive industries and their transparency, corporate social and environmental responsibility, EITI, budget issues, revenue management, sovereign funds (oil funds), economic diversification, and other areas.
On the second day of the training, BP specialists made interesting presentations on the company's social and fiscal commitments. After the presentations, the participants visited the Sangachal terminal of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export oil pipeline, where they had an up-close introduction to the business process. Comprehensive information about oil agreements, BP's operations in Azerbaijan and the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field was given to the participants at the terminal.
Specialists of America's Revenue Watch Institute, well-known experts Andrew Bauer and Susan Maples, made interesting presentations in the area of extractive industry contracts and their economic and legal aspects, contracts of employment and fiscal instruments, signing contracts, revenue management, sovereign wealth funds and macroeconomic management at the event. During the training, participants held interactive discussions about all the subjects that had been presented, and they divided into groups to perform specific tasks.
Participants were evaluated daily by trainers during the week-long training event. The alumni who earned the highest results from their evalutions will be invited to a "Training for Trainers" traditionally organized at the end of the year by Eurasia Knowledge Hub.
On February 26, 2013 the Eurasia Knowledge Hub held training on EITI basic course in Tbilisi, Georgia. About 20 members of civil society, media representatives, representatives of government agencies, Georgian energy companies and BP participated in the training. The trainer Ingilab Ahmadov and RWI staff member Galib Efendiev delivered training sessions that covered topics on basic of EITI: requirements, the mechanism and benefits , process and stages, analyses of EITI report , evaluation of report' quality and other areas. During the training, participants held interactive discussions about all the subjects that had been presented, and they divided into groups to perform specific tasks.