State Audit Office enhances cooperation with Hungarian counterpart

Vietnamese Auditor General Ho Duc Phoc (L) presents a gift to President of the State Audit Office of Hungary László Domokos at a bilateral meeting in Budapest (Photo: VNA)

Prague (VNA) – A delegation of the State Audit Office of Vietnam led by Auditor General Ho Duc Phoc had a meeting with audit officials of Hungary on the sidelines of the 7th international integrity seminar organised by the State Audit Office of Hungary that opened on February 24.

At the meeting, both sides said they attach importance to the two state audit offices’ cooperation and hope that this relationship will be reinforced more comprehensively and effectively in the time ahead.

The delegation of the State Audit Office of Vietnam is taking part in the five-day  seminar in Budapest, Hungary.

The seminar, organised by the State Audit Office of Hungary since 2014, focuses on integrity, transparency and corruption fight to provide specialised assistance for members of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).

Welcoming delegates, President of the State Audit Office of Hungary László Domokos said this time's event centres on the integrity of public businesses, noting that this topic features a number of challenges facing INTOSAI members which hold an important role in corruption prevention and control.

From 2016 to 2018, the State Audit Office of Hungary conducted an integrity survey at State-owned enterprises (SOEs). Basing on survey results, the country’s Government has issued policies for enhancing integrity in these firms – one of the main pillars in Hungary’s anti-corruption strategy, according to him.

During the five-day seminar, participants will share auditing knowledge and experience. They will also listen to speeches on governments’ expectations of integrity enhancement at SOEs, integrity surveys at SOEs, and the use of survey results in risk analysis.

The international seminar has been held since 2014, whose purpose is to share and learn domestic and international anti-corruption good practices, and thus to spread the integrity approach amongst developing countries and countries facing democratic transition.

The flagship topic of the 2020 event is the integrity of publicly-owned business associations; therefore, several presentations of the plenary conference organised for the opening day will focus on this issue, and the invitees will also discuss this subject within the framework of the seminar.

This year's seminar allows the SAO to present, amongst others, the antecedents and results of its integrity survey, as well as the renewed methodology of the same. The integrity survey of the SAO will be modelled at the event in the framework of interactive practices.

The number of countries participating in the International Integrity Seminar of the State Audit Office of Hungary as well as the related international conference grows each year.  Audit office experts from approximately a dozen developing countries arrived to this year's conference.

The State Audit Office of Vietnam handled over 72.8 trillion VND (3.1 billion USD) as of the last day of last year, it was reported at the office’s conference in Hanoi on January 8.

More than 10.2 trillion VND were collected to the State budget, while the State budget expenditure was reduced by over 16.8 trillion VND.

The office also proposed revising, supplementing, canceling or replacing 154 documents with shortcomings to avoid losses and wastefulness.

It also asked for the opinions from the National Assembly Standing Committee and Government on the implementation of the State budget in 2019 and State budget estimates in 2020, as well as the allocation of central budget this year.

Vietnam and Hungary set up diplomatic ties on February 3, 1950. In recent years, the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Hungary have been expanded and develop strongly in many areas./.