Hanoi (VNA) - Ambassador Giorgio Aliberti, head of the European Union Delegation to Vietnam, has stressed the EU’s commitment to technical assistance for the State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV), to enable it to access and utilise international standards while helping Vietnam strengthen its governance system.
Auditor General Tran Sy Thanh receives Ambassador Giorgio Aliberti, head of the European Union Delegation to Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)
Vietnam can enhance its governance system and become a developed country under the Government’s vision for 2030, Aliberti said at a meeting with Auditor General Tran Sy Thanh in Hanoi on February 23.
Appreciating the cooperation between the SAV and the EU in past times, Thanh said that under the development orientation to 2030, the SAV will become an essential and effective tool of the Party and State in inspecting and supervising the management and use of finances and public assets.
Accordingly, the sector will continue to improve its capacity, effectiveness and efficiency in auditing activities through applying information technology and promoting international cooperation, ensuring open, transparent, professional, elite and gradually modern operations, he said, noting that the objective is to make an important contribution to improving the management of finances and public assets of the State, serving the country's socio-economic development in the 2021-2030 period.
The Auditor-General also emphasised that with a wide range of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, Vietnam's economy has been developing very quickly in recent years.
“To focus on the quality of trade activities between the two sides, in 2022, the State Audit Office of Vietnam plans to conduct an audit of 2020 to have a more comprehensive assessment of Vietnam’s exports. It aims to ensure that trade agreements between Vietnam and the EU, as well as other partners, become more practical, bringing benefits to businesses and people of the parties concerned,” said Thanh.
He added that the audit sector is making efforts to develop a medium-term plan for improving the capacity of auditors to make substantive and effective assessments of free trade agreements to submit to the National Assembly.
In addition, the SAV hopes that the EU will assist in the amendment, supplementation and perfection of the audit standard system in line with international standards and operational practices of the office.
Regarding digitisation, Thanh also asked for EU support in enhancing the application of information technology in auditing activities, including the use of the IDEA Data Analysis Software.
The Auditor-General expressed his hope for more support from the EU, with a focus on personnel training in such new spheres as IT, public debt, mining and environmental audits.
Thanh also briefed Aliberti on his office’s operations last year, notably its Chairmanship of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for the 2018-2021 tenure.
The office has also issued a mid-term auditing plan for 2022-2024, and another plan for 2022, which are associated with the strategy for SAV development by 2030.
The SAV will continue to serve as an effective, essential tool of the Party and the State in inspecting and supervising the management and use of finance and public assets, Thanh said.
He thanked the EU for its great support to the SAV since the establishment of the office, highlighting that the EU’s major projects for Vietnam have a total funding of 3.9 million EUR.
Apart from the projects, the EU also launched a software training course for 22 Vietnamese auditors and officials last December, he added.
Ambassador Aliberti affirmed that he will continue to support and facilitate the enhancement of cooperation between the SAV and the EU, contributing to the realisation of the Vietnam-EU comprehensive partnership and cooperation.
He said from 2021, the EU has agreed to support Vietnam through a multilateral cooperation programme.
Under the programme, during the 2021-2024 period, the EU will provide 210 million EUR in non-refundable aid for Vietnam, he said, adding that with the package, the SAV will become an important partner of the EU in the time ahead./.
