State Audit Office promotes ASOSAI chairmanship amid COVID-19

 
Hanoi (VNA) - Amid complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) has worked effectively in fulfilling its chairmanship of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for 2018 – 2021.

The SAV’s Department of International Cooperation has so far carried out a series of activities within the framework of the mission since the beginning of 2020. Human resources training is a highlight among them, with the agency sending personnel from the Chairman’s Secretariat to a course on international meeting coordination organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affair in February, as well as those from several SAV working groups to courses held in April, May, and June, under the capacity building programmes of the ASOSAI, the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), and the ASEAN Supreme Audit Institutions (ASEANSAI).

The department has also built an action plan for the SAV’s involvement in the INTOSAI Working Group on Audit of Extractive Industries (WGEI). The main objective of the working group is to promote the audit of extractive industries within the INTOSAI community in order to support good governance and sustainable development for the United Nations’ post-2015 agenda, covering oil, gas and solid minerals.

In response to the pandemic, the department agreed to postpone the 55th meeting of the ASOSAI Governing Board in March and rescheduled it for July. In May, as the disease became further complicated, based on proposals from the Secretariat and members of the Governing Board, the SAV decided to hold the meeting in the form of a teleconference. In addition, the SAV has worked closely with the Secretary General of ASOSAI who is also the Auditor General of China, and members if the Governing Board to build the agenda and prepare for the 55th meeting that was set to take place on July 27.

The SAV’s Department of International Cooperation, meanwhile, has actively given feedback on a survey and action plan set out by the ASOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (ASOSAI WGEA). During 2020-2022, ASOSAI WGEA plans to focus on the sustainable development goals of the United Nations and carry out work under the guidance of the ASOSAI and the INTOSAI WGEA.

Understanding the severe impact of sea level rise and saline intrusion in Vietnam, the SAV has carried out research and proposed the National Assembly and the Government approve its conduction of an audit on water resources in the Mekong basin called "ASOSAI's cooperative environmental audit in Southeast Asia in the 2020-2021 period".

Following the approval from the National Assembly Chairwoman and the Prime Minister, the SAV has asked member supreme audit institutions from Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand to join the audit and make an outcome report at the 55th Governing Board meeting in July. It has also sought technical assistance for the programme from prominent sponsors like the World Bank.

As ASOSAI Chair, the SAV sees the organising the Governing Board meeting, completing reference conditions and a plan for the cooperative environmental audit, organising a meeting to begin the audit, and participating in online training activities held by the ASOSAI as remaining key tasks this year. It will also implement a plan for its participation in an audit of Strong and Resilient National Public Health Systems co-organised by the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) and Knowledge Sharing Committee (KSC) and the ASOSAI.

The SAV was elected ASOSAI Chair for the 2018 – 2024 tenure at the 14th ASOSAI Assembly (ASOSAI 14) it hosted two years ago, affirming its position on the international stage.

ASOSAI 14 adopted the Hanoi Declaration, which demonstrates SAV’s commitment towards ASOSAI’s mission to promote knowledge sharing and capacity building among members, with a focus on environmental auditing for the sustainable development of countries and the region./.