The final report of the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan (SSC) for 2021 does not contain data on the extraction of gold and silver, the report does not meet the international standard in terms of transparency and presentation of all important data, the conclusion of the NGO Coalition on Improving Transparency in the Extractive Industries (ITEI).

Presenting an assessment opinion on the “Final Report on Transparency in the Extractive Industry” for 2021 prepared by the State Statistics Committee, former SOCAR President Sabit Bagirov noted that in the past two years (2021 and 2022), government reports on transparency in the extractive industry do not meet the requirements of the International Financial reporting, and is counter to the logic of the decree of the President of the country “On additional measures to introduce accountability for transparency in the extractive industry”, dated July 28, 2020.

These reports consist mainly of a description of 218 indicators, combined into 14 items, and provided for in the “System of Statistical Indicators for Transparency in the Extractive Industry”, approved by order of the State Committee on Statistics (SCS) of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated February 25, 2021 No. 01/14.

Baghirov called the design of the report of the SCS on transparency in the extractive industry for 2022 inconsistent with the international standard. He noted that the State Statistics Committee does not provide much important information required by the above standard. Baghirov listed the shortcomings of the SCS’s report:

– There is no evidence that information received from companies is audited (or not reported)

– The report lacks the analytical considerations needed in the notes

– In accordance with the requirements of Article 16 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Official Statistics”, and due to the inadmissibility of disclosure of information by companies, the SSC does not disclose data on a number of companies.

– No data on gold and silver production

– There is no report in PDF file format on the website of the SCS

– There is no short version of the report, accessible to the understanding of unprepared readers

Source: Turan News Agency