Training on the Mining Fiscal Regime in Armenia and EITI Requirements of Financial Flows’ Transparency held on March 6-8, 2020 in Dilijan

EITI Secretariat of Armenia with the support of German Development Cooperation via Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) organized a training on “The Mining Industry’s Fiscal Regime in Armenia and EITI Requirements of Financial Flows’ Transparency”, which took place on March 6-8, in Dilijan.

The training was designed for members of the EITI Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) of the Republic of Armenia and responsible staff-persons of the mining sector’s relevant state agencies and organizations.

The training was attended by 28 representatives of the RA Audit Chamber, State Revenue Committee, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Ministry of Finance, Inspectorate for Nature Protection and Mineral Resources, World Bank.

The training was conducted by the consulting companies "Z Consulting" CJSC and "Avenue Consulting Group " LLC consultants.

The three-day training agenda included the following topics:

• EITI global Standard’s Implementation in Armenia;
• Mining financial flows published through the EITI;
• Main types of taxes and payments of metal mining sector, mechanisms of financial flows’ formation;
• Factors affecting the profitability of the sector;
• Principles of calculating royalty  and nature use payments;
• Metal prices forecast and the ability to estimate state revenues from the sector for the upcoming years;
• The essence of environmental payments, purposes of their payment and calculation and payment regime of environmental tax paid by mining companies;
• Мethodology of calculation the amount of subsidies from the environmental taxes on targeted use and selection of affected communities and environmental, healthcare projects;
• Reviewing the Reclamation fund formation;
• Growth of state revenues from the sector, factors affecting it;
• The implementation of transfer pricing.

There was an active dialogue on the above and other topics, including opinions and discussions on the fiscal policy of the mining sector. At the end of the training, the participants noted that the training was very effective and important for the further implementation of the EITI Standard in Armenia, and expressed their expectations that such discussions would be of a regular nature.

The study was organized within the framework of the project "Support the implementation of the Global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine" implemented by German Development Cooperation via Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The project is implemented under the umbrella of the GIZ Eastern Partnership Regional Fund for Public Administration Reform, on behalf of the German Government.