Norway hosts international energy conference

Around 450 representatives from the world's resource-rich countries met in Oslo on Monday for the third plenary conference of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), reports from Oslo said.

The goal of the EITI was to ensure that the extraction of natural resources benefited countries as a whole as well as their citizens, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported.

The organization aimed to hit its targets by setting common standards for the publication and verification of company payments and for government revenues from oil, gas and mining, according to NRK.

Host country Norway was represented at the two-day conference by Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Stoere, Minister of Petroleum and Energy Odd Roger Enoksen and Minister of International Development Erik Solheim.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Petroleum and Energy were expected to speak about the aims of the EITI conference, as well as Norway's role in the EITI.

Other speakers at the conference included Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, some 20 government ministers from various countries, and heads of NGOs and international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, according to the reports.

Source: Xinhua