A global conference will be held for the first time to feature an EITI National Exhibition in PARIS from the 2nd to the 3rd of March 2011 where representatives from EITI implementing countries will be invited to present and share stories from EITI implementation unique to their respective countries. Ghana will mount a stand at this global exhibition and conference.

The aim of the exhibition is to highlight that although the EITI is a global standard, the way that it is implemented varies considerably in each of the 31 countries to reflect that it is the stakeholders in each implementing country who determine their EITI methodology. At the conference, EITI stakeholders from across the world will thus have an opportunity to experience the EITI through 31 different lenses and gain a better understanding of the flexibility of the EITI methodology in terms of adaptation to local context and circumstances.

GHEITI hopes to use the opportunity to showcase the many successes chalked since the inception of the concept. For example it is on record that, Ghana was the first country in the world to publish an EITI report for the mining sector. Ghana is also the first country to provide data on payments made to regional and local levels of government which have come to provide a reliable and comprehensive account of mining companies’ payments to government and government’s receipt of these funds.

At the Exhibition each EITI implementing country will have their respective stand during the two days of the conference where they are encouraged to display key features of the EITI process in their countries. This could include but not limited to: EITI reports, key features of EITI dissemination campaigns: Ads, broadcasts (radio/TV), Interviews, photo series, print media and published articles and road shows. Countries are encouraged to showcase National Logo’s and any promotional items that have been produced, relevant maps and statistics, case studies of particular EITI events/aspects in the country, for example specific stories and an overview and explanation of governance structure and the Multi-Stakeholder composition.