2014 Natural Resource Charter Conference Agenda

Submitted by Anonymous on June 8, 2014

12-13 June, Oxford, UK

More details for this year's Natural Resource Charter conference are now available. The speakers and topics for open sessions can be found here. (All sessions not listed here will be conducted under the Chatham House rule.) The conference is fully subscribed, with 150 participants. However, the following sessions will be webcast, with log-on details to come in due course. They are also accessible to journalists who may register to attend in-person by contacting media@resourcegovernance.org.

The hashtag for the conference is #Charter2014.

 

Thursday 12th June
 

10:00 – 11:30

Opening welcomes and keynote speech

  • Dr. Daniel Kaufmann, President, Natural Resource Governance Institute
  • Prof. Tony Venables, OxCarre, Oxford University
  • Prof. Sir Paul Collier, Blavatnik School of Government

12:00 – 13:00

The charter as a useful common framework

Participants: TBA

To celebrate the publication of the second edition of the Natural Resource Charter, we will discuss how good practice guidance can be useful to improve natural resource governance. We will explore two key ideas:

  • Good governance requires collaboration across society: partnerships across government, the private sector, civil society and the international community. Can members of these partnerships use a common framework like the Natural Resource Charter to coordinate collaboration?
  • Government policy making and oversight is capacity-intensive. To implement practical country-specific solutions requires both technical know-how and careful prioritization. How can a common framework like the charter be best used to support this process?

14:30 – 16:00

Narratives, expectations and accountability

Participants:

  • Lisa Sachs, Director, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
  • Prof. Michael Ross, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Peter Harrington, Fellow, Center for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School
  • Sami Atallah, Executive Director, Lebanese Center for Policy Studies

Extractive resources raise strong emotions. There is a growing realization that the effective management of a resource discovery requires an informed government that is able to manage citizens' expectations.

  • How do notions of natural resource ownership shape narratives?
  • How should governments communicate resource discoveries?
  • What role do the media and civil society play in shaping expectations?
  • How can we better use data to contextualize and deliver news?

16:30 – 18:00

Maximizing the non-fiscal benefits from resource extraction

Chair:

Sheila Khama, Director of the African Center for Natural Resources, African Development Bank

Participants:

  • Michael Warner, Director, Local Content Solutions
  • Rosalind Kainyah, Managing Director, Kina Advisory Limited
  • Christine Jojarth, Stanford University

This discussion will center on opportunities for enhancing non-fiscal benefits, especially where they can be considered within national strategy-making. Focus will be on helping governments understand the trade-offs and range of options.

  • How can countries leverage non-fiscal benefits to get a "better deal" overall?
  • What are the best non-fiscal benefits a country should target, and how?
  • What are the potential costs of negotiating non-fiscal requirements?
 

Friday 13th June
 

9:00 – 10:30

Making transparency matter: EITI progress report launch

Participants:

  • Clare Short, Chair, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
  • Dr. Daniel Kaufmann, President, Natural Resource Governance Institute
  • TBA

Forty-four countries are now implementing the EITI transparency standard. Over the past year, several OECD countries have committed to join. The EITI Standard itself has been revised to require further disclosure along the natural resource value chain. At this event, the EITI will launch its Progress Report 2014, which highlights different ways implementing countries are using the EITI to improve governance of natural resource revenues.

  • Why do governments decide to implement the EITI in the first place?
  • How should the EITI assess progress in countries?
  • How can one assess whether it is making a difference to transparency, to accountability and that it leads to the right reforms?
  • With over half of the forty-four countries having now reached "compliance" status, how can EITI stimulate further improvements beyond compliance?
  • How flexible should the Standard be to accommodate different circumstances?

11:00- 12:30

New insights on natural resource funds

Chair:

Dr. Ahmed Jehani, Board of Trustees of the Libyan Investment Authority

Participants:

  • Dr. Sam Wills, Research Fellow, OxCarre
  • Havard Halland, World Bank
  • David Manley, Economic Analyst, Natural Resource Governance Institute

Many resource-rich countries operate increasingly large sovereign wealth funds. The rationale behind these can range from promoting macroeconomic stability to intergenerational wealth distribution. Experts will present their latest research discussing how best to allocate those financial assets for sustainable development.

  • How should a country approach the accumulation of domestic assets?
  • How can a government best manage commodity price risk through its investment strategy?

14:00-15:30

Government strategy

Chair:

Richard Manning, Blavatnik School of Government

Participants:

  • Dr. Richard Konteh, Chief of Staff, Office of the President Sierra Leone
  • Dr. Joe Amoako-Tuffour, Professor of Economics St. Francis Xavier University/African Centre for Economic Transformation
  • Ghazaal Habibyar, Director of Policy, Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, Afghanistan

Governments of new-producer countries have to make a wide range of decisions with long-lasting implications. A coherent approach to harnessing resource wealth for sustainable development requires a strategy that cuts across ministries and portfolios as well as one that links to a national vision or development plan.

  • What are the lessons from countries that have undergone this process?
  • How should countries approach the process of formulating strategy while building understanding and buy-in from citizens?
  • How can strategies be translated into action and insulated against the vagaries of the political cycle?

16:00-17:30

Governance matters

Chair:

Dr. Daniel Kaufmann, President, Natural Resource Governance Institute

Participants:

TBA

Good governance is trumpeted as the central requirement to successful transformation of natural wealth into broad-based development. However, an important question is what makes the difference? This session will explore various perspectives on this question.

  • How much can government effectiveness matter?
  • Is open and accountable governance a luxury or a necessity?
  • What actions can countries consider to improve governance?
 
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