Welcoming the initiative, Huguette Labelle, Chair of TI said that: “Extractive resources need to provide real benefits for the peoples of the countries where these minerals are located.” The TI Chair was one of the panellists invited to participate with Zoellick in announcing the “EITI++” project. The project is inspired by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), of which TI is a co-founder.

At a meeting convened by the World Bank, Labelle stressed that: “We welcome this initiative because it relates directly to transparency across the value chain of actions in the oil and mining sectors where we have seen in the past extensive corruption, violence, death, destruction and destabilization. The “EITI++” spearheaded by the World Bank can offer the opportunity that the vast mineral wealth of Africa benefits the people of Africa – starting with open and fair contracts between governments and companies, through to the equitable disbursement of revenues to support sustainable anti-poverty goals.”

Also around the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings, the TI national chapter in the USA organised an expert panel to examine the harmful impact of corruption on development outcomes based on a recent World Bank Detailed Implementation Review (DIR) of five World Bank health projects in India. The session under the title “Corruption as a Barrier to Achieving the MDGs [Millenium Development Goals]: Lessons from the World Bank’s India DIR” included John Zutt (Department of Institutional Integrity, World Bank), John Roome (South Asia Region, World Bank) and Aneta Wierzynska (Transparency International-USA).

In an online brief published in April, TI took a closer look at the relation between poverty and corruption and the anti-corruption strategy of the World Bank.