Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia look to strengthen audit cooperation

Hanoi, (VNA) - The 9th Tripartite Meeting between the Supreme Audit Institutions of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam with the theme of auditing budget collecting via IT system will take place via a videoconference from August 25-26.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on the threshold of the event, Deputy Auditor General Ha Thi My Dung highlighted prominent audit cooperation activities between the three countries since 2009, and revealed plans for promoting cooperation in the coming time.

Dung said from 2009-2013, the state audit agencies of the three countries have maintained the annual tripartite meetings on a rotational basis with different topics with the aim of sharing knowledge and experience on issues of common concern.

This is an effective forum, contributing to enhancing professional capacity, tightening cooperation and friendship for mutual development among the three agencies, she stressed.

At the sixth tripartite conference held in Vientiane, Laos, from November 11-12, 2014, they agreed to hold the conference every two years instead of annually. Alongside, they also reached consensus of the changes in the organisation form of the event, dividing the event into two separate meetings, one of working groups to deal with issues of shared concern in line with the conference’s theme, and one of top leaders of the three agencies to reach agreements of discussed issues and evaluate outcomes of their cooperation in previous year and sketch out future cooperation orientations.

The partnership among State audit agencies of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, initiated by the State Audit of Vietnam, aims to build a long-term cooperation mechanism for higher efficiency of collaboration in State auditing activities, contributing to promoting the traditional ties among the three countries.
Since its inception, the tripartite cooperation forum has achieved the set objectives, contributing to promoting traditional cooperation and improving the professional capacity of the audit agencies, affirming and enhancing mutual understanding and support in international forums.

After 12 years, major targets of the partnership have been met, including the promotion of traditional relations and enhancement of professional capacity of the three countries, helping raising the position of State Audits of the three countries in the region and creating a suitable playground for them to gain experience to join larger multilateral forums.

The tripartite meetings often focus on topical issues on effective management in the public sector, strengthening relationship between legislative bodies and state audit agencies, improving the quality of audit reports, ensuring the quality of audit, sharing experience in implementing of international audit standards.

Regarding the theme of the 8th Tripartite Meeting in November 2018 on assessing the Government's preparation to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs), Dung said the State Audit of Vietnam has been active in selecting audit topics and prepare audit plans on this topic for the next years, and evaluating the implementation of UN SDGs in line with Vietnam’s commitment.


In addition, the State Audit of Vietnam has applied the guidance on 'Auditing SDGs' initiative of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Development Initiative (IDI) to audit the implementation of the SDGs.

According to Dung, the State Audit of Vietnam, as an independent audit agency for managing public finance and assets, has always accompanied the Government in implementing SDGs, including reducing the multidimensional poverty rate, improving the living standard of people in ethnic minority areas, increasing the health insurance coverage rate, reducing the number of children dropping out of school, and increasing the percentage of households having access to electricity and clean water.

These results have contributed to maintaining the nation’s GDP growth at a relatively rate in the 2018-2020 period, and ensuring the stability and sustainability of the national finance, thus lifting the role and position of Vietnam in international integration, she stressed.

Dung said the 9th Tripartite Meeting between the Supreme Audit Institutions of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam will focus on discussing cooperation orientations between the three state audit agencies, and review results achieved in auditing the preparation for implementing SDGs. She said the meeting was initially scheduled to be held in Laos in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted involved countries to hold it in the form of video conference. /.