The Natural Resources Information Exchange – NRIE Claudine Sigam Project Coordinator Special Unit on Commodities United Nations Conference Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Development of Mineral Resources Technical Meeting First Meeting of ACP Ministers in charge of the Development of Mining Resources 13 – 15 December 2010

Content What is NRIE & Expected results The Stakeholders Context What is NRIE & Expected results The Stakeholders Implementation & Way forward Recommendation

Situation in most of the African countries compared to the rest of the world, a chaotic situation… Request by African countries during the 11th and 12th UNCTAD’s Annual Oil, Gas and Mines Conference UNCTAD survey responded to by 82% of African Union member States Call for an innovative approach to natural resources management

CONTEXT The majority of population in most of the mineral resource rich African countries remain poor despite numerours development initiatives A chaotic situation despite the existence of numerous database An urgent need to step up innovative actions to trigger an endogenous development process The NRIE is designed to respond to the needs expressed by some African countries and formalized in a resolution adopted during the Ministerial Roundtable of UNCTAD’s13th Conference in Mali in 2009

What is NRIE ? (Art 8) « Call on UNCTAD to …….ensure that the platform is gradually extended…. to include infrastructures (physical and financial), and related operating, processing , storage techniques and transportation means » African decision makers believe that progress in geographical information could provide tools for more efficiency to all the stakeholders and promote major synergies The NRIE to become a tool for governance Provide all the stakeholders (operators, policy makers, community, Academia, media, civil society, etc), with reliable and updated information on existing potential (online metadata, etc) Render more transparent modalities for capturing value from the natural resource exploitation Articulate alternatives and underlying political stakes imbedded in organizational, regulatory and technical choices

What is NRIE ?

Expected Results Knowledge-driven African mining sector as recommended by the Africa Mining Vision Highlight social, economical and environmental impacts of natural resources exploitation, including geo localization and visualization of the evolution (Follow up, evaluation, video) Boost regional integration without lost of sovereignity (A common area & private national spaces) Costs and Risks reduction for potential investors Driving force in reducing the numerical divide Preservation of scientific heritage

NRIE – STAKEHOLDER ROLE Partnerships and Cooperation agreements Linkages between the academia, the industry and host country Governance Seminars & Training workshops Dissemination of information to relevant States and operators Identification of spin off projects that generate relevant data Host metadata backup UNCTAD Overall Coordination Consensus building Capacity Building Promotion of NRIE & Synergies with existing related Programs Follow up, Monitoring & Evaluation

NRIE – STAKEHOLDER ROLE ITU Strategic Partner Coordination for technology identification & strategy formulation Coordination among technology developers, and other stakeholders such as universities

NRIE – STAKEHOLDER ROLE HOST COUNTRY Commitment to set up a National Data Repository (Data & Metadata) Commitment to agree on technical standards applicable at regional level Data retrieval Facilitation of data digitalization Elaboration of regional securitization systems of archived data Committee for Selective diffusion of information Hosting of metadata backup (regional) Mobilization of national stakeholders Stimulate ICT oriented jobs

NRIE – STAKEHOLDER ROLE SERVICE PROVIDERS Training and capacity building of locals in collaboration with UNCTAD and relevant partners Quality control Setting up Web interface for virtual exchange Architecture specifications Standards and format specifications for data and Meta data Digitalization of Data Cataloguing of Metadata Validation of data quality Maintenance of Data Bank

Host governments STAKEHOLDERS OUTCOMES BENEFICIARIES Facilitators (UNCTAD & ITU) Data providers (Host governments, Industries Service Providers (Academia, locals, etc) Beneficiaries Information asymmetries Transparency & Governance Jobs creation /digital dividend Investments Regional integration Knowledge driven mining sector Host governments Local communities / civil society Industries Universities

IMPLEMENTATION Two experts meeting held (Cotonou, Geneva) Six pilot countries selected and national focal points appointed (Benin, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nigeria) MOU and Letters of Agreement signed between UNCTAD, ITU and the six pilot countries

THE WAY FORWARD A prototype under construction to be presented in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2011 during the workshop on the NRIE organizational framework and a special event for resource mobilization A workshop on NRIE capacity building programme to be held in Mozambique the second quarter of 2011 NRIE Coordinating body underway Evaluation of NRIE implementation during UNCTAD 15th Oil, Gas and Mines, Trade and Finance Conference to be held in November 2011 in Conakry, Guinea

RECOMMENDATIONS Promote the NRIE model among ACP member States to highlight the impact of resource exploitation on wealth creation for the State and the population, as well as preservation of the environment Donor support for NRIE project (bilateral, multilateral, private sector, PPP, foundation etc.) Involve host countries’ Academia in the project ownership Partnership with UNCTAD on the NRIE initiative: The ACP Secretariat to support the production of metadata and host the metadata backup for ACP member States