Caspian Revenue Watch

The resource-rich states of the Caspian Basin today face the very real prospect of unprecedented revenues from the sale and transport of oil and natural gas, and from mining. Until now, most attention has focused on how these resources will come to market and which companies and which national interests will benefit. But if we look beyond the pipeline routes, swap deals and mining concessions, there are even more fundamental questions for these countries: Who will control the resources, and how will they be used?

The Central Eurasia Project sees the transparent use of revenues generated by the sale and transport of Caspian natural resources as an issue of great importance for regional development and the promotion of civil society. The Caspian Revenue Watch policy program (CRW) aims to generate and publicize research, information, and advocacy on how revenues are being invested and disbursed and how governments and extraction companies respond to civic demands for accountability in the region. It also seeks to build the capacity of local groups to monitor government management of oil revenues through training in budget monitoring, training in reporting on the extractive sector, and seed grants to budget watchdogs. CRW hopes to ensure that existing and future revenue funds in the region be invested and expended for the benefit of the public, such as poverty reduction, education, and public health—through the promotion of transparency, civic involvement, and government accountability.

CRW Objectives

To help ensure that existing and future oil and natural resource funds in the region be invested and expended for the benefit of the public through transparency, civic involvement, and government accountability by encouraging:

the establishment of publicly accountable natural resource funds in the Caspian Region;
principles of transparency and accountability that will make them—and other manifestations of good governance—possible;
governments in the Caspian Basin to incorporate the resources and recommendations of this initiative into the structuring and implementation of these funds;
international and Caspian-based non-governmental organizations to share information and support relevant monitoring activities;
multinational corporations and international financial institutions in the discussion around accountability, transparency and equity and encouraging socially responsible business practices; and
donors to implement recommendations on relevant program development and grants.

Program Activities

1. International Advisory Group to a) help guide the research and maximize its utility and b) to raise international awareness and support from experts in various relevant fields—including the law, advocacy, environmental protection, and investment.

2. Report showing international experience and/or comparative analysis about:

types and purposes of such funds;
managerial "lessons learned";
case studies on existing funds from the Caspian Basin; and
recommendations for improved transparency and accountability and for the promotion of citizen participation and watchdog groups as an integral part of the process.

3. International meetings on the issue of Caspian natural resource revenue funds in Washington, DC and the Caspian region:

Baku, Azerbaijan: July 2002
Washington, D.C.: May 12, 2003. (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
Baku, Azerbaijan: May 29, 2003
Almaty, Kazakhstan: June 2, 2003

Caspian Revenue Watch Advisory Board

Natalia Ablova
Director, Kyrgyz-American Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law

Terry Adams
Senior Associate, Cambridge Energy Resources Associates
Director, Caspian Energy Program, Department of Energy Law, University of Dundee
(Founding President, AIOC Consortium, Azerbaijan)

Patricia Armstrong
Human rights consultant

Sabit Bagirov
Chairman of the Board, Transparency International, Azerbaijan
(Former President of Azerbaijan State Oil Company)

Gordon Barrows
President, Barrows Company

Mikhail Chachkhunashvili
Chairman of the Executive Board, Open Society Georgia Foundation

Edward Chow
Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
International oil and gas consultant

Robert Corzine
Director, Asymmetric Associates
Independent energy consultant

Arthur Drache
Partner, Drache, Burke-Robertson & Buchmayer

Robert Ebel
Director, Energy and National Security, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Jonathan Elkind
Independent consultant
(Former Director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs, National Security Council)

Richard A. Fineberg
Independent analyst of Alaskan oil and environmental issues

Bennett Freeman

Independent consultant
(former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor)

Arvind Ganesan
Director, Business and Human Rights, Human Rights Watch

Scott Horton
Partner, Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP

Terry Karl
Professor, Department of Political Science, Stanford University

Richard Kauzlarich
United States Institute of Peace
(former United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan)

Sergey Kuratov
Chairman, Ecological Society, Green Salvation, Kazakhstan

Karin Lissakers
Advisor to George Soros, Soros Fund Management
(former United States Executive Director, Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund)

Douglas Norlen
Policy Director, Pacific Environment and Resources Center

Stewart J. Paperin
Executive Vice President, Open Society Institute

Anthony Richter
Director, Central Eurasia Project, Open Society Institute

Laurent Ruseckas
Director, Caspian Energy, Cambridge Energy Research Associates

Miguel J. Schloss
Executive Director, Transparency International, Germany

Isaac Shapiro
Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Sergey Solyanik
Vice-Chairman, Ecological Society, Green Salvation, Kazakhstan

S. Frederick Starr
Chairman, Central Asia Institute,
Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies

Richard G. Steiner
Professor, University of Alaska Marine Advisory Program

Simon Taylor
Director, Global Witness

David Usupashvili
Rule of Law Project
Deputy Chief of Party, USAID

Evgenii Zhovtis
Director, Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law

Sergey Zlotnikov
Executive Director, Transparency International, Kazakhstan