State Audit of Vietnam affirms its position in ASEANSAI

Deputy State Auditor General Ha Thi My Dung talks to the press before the 6th ASEANSAI Summit. (Photo: Vietnamplus)

Hanoi (VNA) - The 6th ASEANSAI Summit will be held on November 2 in an online format. During the event, delegates will approve the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan; elect and approve the Chairman of the 2022-2023 ASEANSAI Committee and discuss many other important contents. Deputy State Auditor General Ha Thi My Dung talked more in the following interview on the threshold of the event.

- As a founding member and Chair of the ASEANSAI Strategic Plan Committee, could you tell us about the position and contributions of the State Audit of Vietnam to ASEANSAI summits?

Madam Ha Thi My Dung: The State Audit of Vietnam is one of the founders of ASEANSAI, which was founded in 2011. In the 2006-2010 period, the State Audit of Vietnam (SAV) cooperated with State Audit Institution (SAIs) to mobilise and receive high consensus from regional SAIs on the establishment of the ASEANSAI. SAV’s dynamism has become a driving force and premise for the establishment of ASEANSAI.

The SAV is the Chair of the ASEANSAI Strategic Plan Committee and a responsible and proactive member of the ASEANSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee.

Since the inception of ASEANSAI, the SAV has always been trusted by SAI members to assume the role of Chair of the ASEANSAI Strategic Plan Committee. The members of this committee include the State Audit Institutions of Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Laos and Thailand.

2021 is a pivotal year that marks the end of the Strategic Plan for the 2018-2021 period. The State Audit of Vietnam will continue to preside over the development of the organization's Strategic Plan for the period 2022-2025, which was approved by the senior leaders of the SAI members at the high-level meeting in July 2021. It is expected to be approved at the 6th ASEANSAI Summit in November.

- Could you tell us about how the SAV monitors and evaluates the implementation of the ASEANSAI strategic plan and orientations for the near future when the SAV is re-elected as Chairman of the Strategic Plan Committee for the 2022-2023 period?

Madam Ha Thi My Dung: In order to ensure the realization of the Strategic Plan on schedule and with high quality, the SAV has acted as a monitoring and evaluation agency for the implementation of the annual strategic plan based on reports of the Committees and the Secretariat.

The idea of monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Strategic Plan is an important content reflected in the Strategic Plan. It was adopted at the 2nd ASEANSAI Summit, together with the approval of the 2014-2017 ASEANSAI Strategic Plan. The State Audit of Vietnam also presided over the development, piloting, adjustment, completion and training of Guidelines for monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the Strategic Plan. This important document was officially adopted at the 5th Summit in 2019.

The SAV is the Chair of the ASEANSAI Strategic Plan Committee and a responsible and proactive member of the ASEANSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee. (Photo: Vietnamplus)

At the ASEANSAI Donor Conferences for the 2019-2021 period, donors showed their special interest and appreciation for the project proposals of the Strategic Planning Committee. The Swedish State Audit agreed to support the Committee in developing the Strategic Plan for the 2022-2025 period in order to carry out the role of monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Strategic Plan by the Committees every year. In addition, the SAV actively worked and connected with other donors such as the World Bank (WB) and the European Union (EU) to support the implementation of activities led by the State Audit of Vietnam in ASEANSAI in order to strengthen the capacity of the State Audit of Vietnam in particular and other member SAIs in general.

At the 6th ASEANSAI high-level meeting, the member SAIs once again reached a high consensus on reelecting the State Audit of Vietnam as the Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee for the period 2022-2023, which is expected to be approved at the 6th ASEANSAI Summit. The SAV needs to make more efforts to become a leading, proactive, responsible and creative member in ASEANSAI, aiming to assume the role of ASEANSAI Chair for the 2029-2031 period.

- Could you please tell me how the participation of the State Audit of Vietnam in ASEANSAI has affected the local agency’s development in general?

Madam Ha Thi My Dung: The participation of the State Audit of Vietnam in this forum has not only contributed to the overall development of ASEANSAI, to the enhancement of public governance in the region, but have also contributed to the professional development for the State Audit of Vietnam. This thereby helps strengthen the increasing position of the SAV in the regional and international audit community.

In the coming time, based on the development orientation of the Strategic Plan for the 2022-2025 period, ASEANSAI will strengthen the expansion and improve the quality of experience sharing and training activities. It will also improve the capacity of member SAIs on issues related to the auditors’ adaption to the VUCA (changing world) era. It will conduct new forms of cooperation such as project research, audit cooperation, and cross-assessment on hot issues of the world such as climate change, environmental pollution. These are the top concerns and issues of the State Audit of Vietnam and its members.

Thank you madam!