Financial Transparency Coalition

Senator Lugar (R.-IN) helped insert Section 1504, a provision requires oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose all payments to governments in each jurisdiction in which they operate, into the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He delivered the keynote speech at Georgetown University for the annual USAID conference, "Frontiers of Development," this week.

In May, the Italian energy plant Eni discovered around ten trillion cubic feet of natural gas off the shore of Mozambique, increasing the estimated reserves of Mozambican gas above 50 trillion cubic feet. This discovery placed the East African nation in the spotlight of economic development and energy production. On the other hand, Mozambique’s new intra-regional competition with Kenya and Tanzania, investment by Europeans, and lack of solid economic foundations create the possibility of corruption. Therefore, as the country enjoys a boost to its GDP, only an effective, transparent control of finances will ensure a parallel benefit to its...

A new transparency law is being debated by the European Union that would require oil, gas, mining and forestry companies to make publish all payments they make to governments anywhere in the world. A similar provision exists in Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform bill in the United States. Such a law would eliminate much of the opacity that exists in developing countries currently by allowing individuals to see how much money their governments are getting from extractive industries deals, and hold them accountable for it. Lobbyists for many of the extractive companies are working to dilute...