Jakarta, 20 February 2002

To:  All the Extractive Industries Review Stakeholders

Dear friends,

I sent a letter to you a couple of weeks ago in which I discussed a number of changes that have occurred in the Extractive Industries Review.  I would like to follow up and share with you how we envisage translating these changes into a work plan, and discuss next steps.

The changes I refer to are on one hand the extended timeframe of the review, which now concludes in June 2003, and on the other the changed structure of the secretariat, which will be based in Jakarta with only a small office remaining in Washington D.C.  Furthermore, the inclusiveness of the process and my independence in managing the EIR budget have been reaffirmed.  All these changes have been reflected in a revised Terms of Reference for the review, which is attached to this letter.

In order to ensure an inclusive review in practice, my team and I would like to share two documents with you, which will play a key role in the course of the review: the EIR Conceptual Framework and the EIR Work Plan. 

Firstly, the Conceptual Framework summarises various questions the review needs to address. This framework will be used to develop the regional workshop agendas, the research program and, ultimately, the outline of the EIR Report and its recommendations.

Secondly, the Work Plan outlines how we intend to go about our various activities. It starts with the objectives of the review and goes on to explain its main output, the EIR Report, and how we are planning to develop it. The Work Plan then outlines the different review activities and their time frame.

Your input

Both these documents are working drafts. We welcome useful feed-back from all stakeholders, signaling whether we are on the right track, and whether we should reconsider, or redesign, elements of our thinking and planning.  You can give your feed back in a number of ways: either mail or email us your comments, post your comments on the consultation pages of our website, which will be available starting next week, or call us directly.

Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Workshop is going to be held in Manaus, Brazil, April 16-19, 2002

We are now entering the regional consultations phase of the review and would like to remind all stakeholders to self-select for the Latin America and the Caribbean Workshop taking place in Manaus, Brazil, April 16-19, 2002.  The composition of representation for each regional workshop will be: 15 representatives each for government and industry, 25 representatives from civil society, 10 representatives from the World Bank Group, and 5 representatives from academia/other. We will start sending out invitations to participants from governments, the private sector, the World Bank Group, and academia next week. We would be grateful, if civil society representatives could contact us with the outcome of the self-selection process, which has the objective of assuring as broad a spread of different opinions represented at the workshop as possible, no later than Monday March, 18, 2002.  This is essential in trying to secure reasonable flight prices, which will become increasingly scarce nearer the time. Please ensure your responses are copied to Roberta Lovatelli (rlovatelli@eireview.org).

Dear friends, the success of the review depends critically on the initiative and support of all stakeholders. I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to participate in this review in whatever capacity is possible and convenient to you. My team and I will do our best to incorporate all your inputs effectively into our work. We hope this letter and the information it provides will clarify most of the questions you may have, but I welcome you to contact both myself and my team with any questions that may remain.

Yours,

Emil Salim and the EIR Team