Each year the Parliament of Finland hosts an event in Helsinki that provides a unique opportunity for parliamentarians, parliamentary officials and their staff, as well as experts in governance and influential thought leaders from Finland and around the world, to come together to share experiences and knowledge on important global issues of concern for parliamentary development.

This year’s seminar, organized by The World Bank Group (WB) in partnership with the Parliament of Finland, took place March 24-26, 2015 and titled The Role of Parliament and Extractive Industries Revenue. The event brought together some 30 members of parliament (MPs) and key parliamentary staff from the legislatures of countries that either already have a substantial extractives industry, or are at the exploratory stages of developing the sector, to explore the role that parliaments can perform to harness and steward natural for the benefit of their national communities through ensuring effective revenue management. Delegations from Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Somalia, Zambia, South Sudan, Timor-Leste, Mongolia, and Iraq were represented.

The 2015 Helsinki Seminar specifically set out to:

i. Equip legislators with the technical knowledge to design policies and frameworks that will optimize state revenue flows from extractive industries

ii. Enhance awareness of the different tools and processes that parliamentarians can use during the estimates process in order to better track revenue and expenditure related to the sector

iii. Strengthen the capacity of parliamentarians and parliamentary staff involved in the estimates process to undertake budget analysis.