“Improving transparency amongst companies and governments has become an important
international issue. Transparency is a critical tool that can reduce corruption and
improve revenue governance in countries with abundant resources. Information is not
only vital for creating functioning markets, but is also an essential component of human
development. In the natural resource sector, transparency is particularly important
because the extractive industries generate enormous revenues for resource rich countries. These revenues have the potential to have large, positive impacts on economic and human development. When spent effectively, they can be used to fund improvements to health and educations systems, lead to a stronger and more diversified economic base, and support the establishment of a stable and democratic government. Due to the growing recognition of the importance of transparency to economic and human development, numerous international and domestic initiatives now focus on improving disclosure in resource rich countries. While many prominent initiatives have focused on improving transparency within host governments (the country where resources are extracted) and companies, raising the disclosure standards in home governments (the origin country of the extractive company) is another fruitful method of improving transparency worldwide.”
