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Concept
The resource-rich states of the Caspian Basin today face
the very real prospect of unprecedented revenues from the
sale and transport of oil and natural gas, and from mining.
Until now, most attention has focused on how these resources
will come to market and which companies and which national
interests will benefit. But if we look beyond the pipeline
routes, swap deals and mining concessions, there are even
more fundamental questions for these countries: Who will control
the resources, and how will they be used?
The Central Eurasia Project, a program of the Open Society
Institute (Soros Foundations), sees the transparent use of
revenues generated by the sale and transport of Caspian natural
resources as an issue of great importance for regional development
and the promotion of civil society. The Caspian Revenue Watch
policy program (CRW) aims to generate and publicize research,
information, and advocacy on how revenues are being invested
and disbursed and how governments and extraction companies
respond to civic demands for accountability in the region.
It also seeks to build the capacity of local groups to monitor
government management of oil revenues through training in
budget monitoring, training in reporting on the extractive
sector, and seed grants to budget watchdogs. CRW hopes to
ensure that existing and future revenue funds in the region
be invested and expended for the benefit of the public, such
as poverty reduction, education, and public health - through
the promotion of transparency, civic involvement, and government
accountability.
Objective
To help ensure that existing and future oil and natural resource
funds in the region be invested and expended for the benefit
of the public through transparency, civic involvement, and
government accountability by encouraging:
- establishment of publicly accountable natural resource
funds in the Caspian Region
- principles of transparency and accountability that
will make them - and other manifestations of good governance
- possible.
- governments in the Caspian Basin to incorporate
the resources and recommendations of this initiative into
the structuring and implementation of these funds.
- international and Caspian-based non-governmental organizations
to share information and support relevant monitoring activities
- multinational corporations and international financial
institutions in the discussion around accountability,
transparency and equity and encouraging socially responsible
business practices.
- donors to implement recommendations on relevant
program development and grants
Program Activities
International Advisory Group
- to help guide the research and maximize its utility
- to raise international awareness and support from experts
in various relevant fields -- including the law, advocacy,
environmental protection, and investment.
Report showing international experience and/or comparative
analysis about:
- types and purposes of such funds;
- managerial "lessons learned";
- case studies on existing funds from the Caspian Basin;
- recommendations for improved transparency and accountability
and for the promotion of citizen participation and watchdog
groups as an integral part of the process.
International meetings on the issue of Caspian natural
resource revenue funds in Washington, DC and the Caspian region.
Caspian Revenue Watch Advisory Board
Natalia Ablova
Director, Kyrgyz-American Bureau on
Human Rights and Rule of Law
Terry Adams
Senior Associate, Cambridge Energy
Resources Associates
Director, Caspian Energy Program, Department of Energy Law,
University of Dundee
(Founding President, AIOC Consortium, Azerbaijan)
Patricia Armstrong
Human rights consultant
Sabit Bagirov
Chairman of the Board, Transparency
International, Azerbaijan
(Former President of Azerbaijan State Oil Company)
Gordon Barrows
President, Barrows Company
Mikhail Chachkhunashvili
Chairman of the Executive Board, Open
Society Georgia Foundation
Edward Chow
Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace
International oil and gas consultant
Robert Corzine
Director, Asymmetric Associates
Independent energy consultant
Arthur Drache
Partner, Drache, Burke-Robertson &
Buchmayer
Robert Ebel
Director, Energy and National Security,
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Jonathan Elkind
Independent consultant
(Former Director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs,
National Security Council)
Richard A. Fineberg
Independent analyst of Alaskan oil
and environmental issues
Bennett Freeman
Independent consultant
(former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor)
Arvind Ganesan
Director, Business and Human Rights,
Human Rights Watch
Scott Horton
Partner, Patterson, Belknap, Webb
& Tyler LLP
Terry Karl
Professor, Department of Political
Science, Stanford University
Richard Kauzlarich
United States Institute of Peace
(former United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan)
Sergey Kuratov
Chairman, Ecological Society, Green
Salvation, Kazakhstan
Karin Lissakers
Advisor to George Soros, Soros Fund
Management
(former United States Executive Director, Executive Board
of the International Monetary Fund)
Douglas Norlen
Policy Director, Pacific Environment
and Resources Center
Stewart J. Paperin
Executive Vice President, Open Society
Institute
Anthony Richter
Director, Central Eurasia Project,
Open Society Institute
Laurent Ruseckas
Director, Caspian Energy, Cambridge
Energy Research Associates
Miguel J. Schloss
Executive Director, Transparency International,
Germany
Isaac Shapiro
Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities
Sergey Solyanik
Vice-Chairman, Ecological Society,
Green Salvation, Kazakhstan
S. Frederick Starr
Chairman, Central Asia Institute,
Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies
Richard G. Steiner
Professor, University of Alaska Marine
Advisory Program
Simon Taylor
Director, Global Witness
David Usupashvili
Rule of Law Project
Deputy Chief of Party, USAID
Evgenii Zhovtis
Director, Kazakhstan International
Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law
Sergey Zlotnikov
Executive Director, Transparency International,
Kazakhstan
About the Central Eurasia Project
The Central Eurasia Project is a policy center, grantmaking
program and foundation liaison hub. Through its daily news
and information website EurasiaNet, its Open Forum meetings
series, the Eurasia Policy Forum generates policy ideas and
advocacy. Its grantmaking program supports efforts on behalf
of human rights and freedom expression for the Caucasus and
Central Asia region. And it is OSI's principal liaison with
Soros Foundation network activities of the national foundations
in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Finally, in the context
of OSI's geographic expansion, the CEP has been tasked with
developing new foundation activities in the Middle East. As
such it oversees grantmaking relating to Iran, the OSI office
in Turkey and exploration of new initiatives more broadly
in this region. For more about the Central Eurasia Project,
click here.
About the Eurasia Policy Forum
The Eurasia Policy Forum identifies and addresses emerging
policy issues that have an impact on the development of open
societies in the south Caucasus and Central Asia region. Each
policy issue is addressed in a series of research briefs whose
findings advocate particular policy innovations aimed at both
western and regional policy makers. Leading experts are invited
to serve on an Advisory Group for each topic to consult on
the substance of the research documents and are asked to engage
in both private and public discussions on the issue. Additionally,
conferences in the US and the region will accompany each topic
to provide an opportunity for detailed discussion of the research
findings and to encourage a detailed and informed discussion
on the issues. The research briefs culminate in a publication
offering in-depth analysis and policy recommendations useful
to donors, national governments, NGOs, and the media. Two
series are currently underway: "Drug Policy, HIV/AIDS
and the Public Health Crisis in Central Asia" and the
"Caspian Revenue Watch." Future series are likely
to examine the interplay of western geopolitics, security
policy and human rights, religious freedom, and other issues.
For more about the Eurasia Policy Forum, click
here.
EurasiaNet.org
Updated throughout the day, EurasiaNet provides information
and analysis about political, economic, environmental and
social developments in the countries of Central Asia and the
Caucasus, as well as in Russia, the Middle East, and Southwest
Asia. The web site also offers additional features, including
newsmaker interviews, book reviews and a discussion forum.
Based in New York, EurasiaNet advocates open and informed
discussion of issues that concern countries in the region.
The web site presents a variety of perspectives on contemporary
developments, utilizing a network of correspondents based
both in the West and in the region. The aim of EurasiaNet
is to promote informed decision making among policy makers,
as well as broadening interest in the region among the general
public. EurasiaNet also appears in Russian and will appear
soon in Arabic. For more about EurasiaNet.org, click
here.
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