The Governing Board of ASOSAI convened a teleconferenced 55th meeting at 13:00 pm on July 27 (Vietnam local time) under the chair of the State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV), which assumes the ASOSAI Chairmanship for 2018 – 2021.
Dr. Ho Duc Phoc, SAV’s Auditor General and Chairman of ASOSAI for 2018 – 2021 term presides over the meeting
The virtual meeting was attended by 12 members of the ASOSAI Governing Board, including SAIs of Vietnam, China, Japan, Korea, India, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia and Thailand, along with Kazakhstan and Turkey – two members of the Audit Committee, and the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Development Initiative (IDI).
At the opening ceremony, Dr. Ho Duc Phoc warmly welcomed all delegates to the 55th ASOSAI Governing Board Meeting. He said that in spite of having been postponed for months than the initial plan, and with the commitment to ensuring health safety amidst the unprecedented and unpredictable COVID-19 pandemic in the region and over the world, the 55th ASOSAI Governing Board Meeting via teleconference for the first time gathered all distinguished members and guests. This is also an inevitable trend of international institutions in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. The meeting is a testament to the great efforts of all member SAIs and especially of SAI China, the ASOSAI Secretary General with its very careful preparation for the meeting in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Ho Duc Phoc emphasized that “We strongly believe that with responsible and constructive working spirit of the Governing Board members, our meeting will be a remarkable success and achieve the expected outcomes”.
On behalf of the ASOSAI’s Governing Board, Dr. Phoc also expressed his utmost thanks to H.E Mr. Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh, for his willingness and dedication to arrange for and host the 55th Governing Board Meeting since last March in Bangladesh. With the current situation of the COVID-19 outbreak, he and his colleagues from SAI Bangladesh demonstrated their firm support for the decision on organizing the meeting in the virtual form. In pursuit of the 14th ASOSAI Assembly and the 54th ASOSAI Governing Board Meeting on the implementation of Hanoi Declaration on environmental auditing for sustainable development, the 55th meeting spent 3 hours discussing the important issues of ASOSAI such as ASOSAI’s strategic objectives and priorities for 2022-2027; ASOSAI Working Group on Environmental Audit (WGEI)’s Work Plan for 2020-2022; Report of the Special Committee on the fesibility study on establishing ASOSAI Working Group on SDGs and the role of ASOSAI in supporting member SAIs to respond to COVID-19 pandemic.
SAV’s representatives join the virtual meeting
Furthermore, in his opening remarks, Dr. Ho Duc Phoc expressed his strong belief that the proactive participation of all delegates in the meeting through open and responsible discussions is absolutely a treasured contribution to the complete success of the meeting in particular and then to the development of ASOSAI community as a whole.
Speaking at the Meeting, Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury gave his thanks to the SAV for its efforts to organize the virtual meeting in the context of complicated developments of the COVID-19 epidemic globally. He also thanked all member SAIs for their close cooperation during the past period, especially in the process of preparing for the Meeting. Furthermore, he expressed his hope that the success of the Meeting would be achieved, thereby promoting the cooperation among all ASOSAI members. “I hope that all our SAIs will adapt to the new normal after COVID-19 as well as changes in the coming time towards the future” – said Chowdhury.
According to the meeting agenda, under the chairmanship of the SAV, the ASOSAI’s Governing Board Members approved the Minutes of the 54th Governing Board Meeting; Report on the Governing Board’s activities since the previous meeting, Report of the Secretary General on the Secretariat activities since the previous meeting, ASOSAI financial statements for FY 2019, Report on ASOSAI’s capacity development activities....At the same time, the participants focused on discussing many other important issues of ASOSAI.
The other meeting-related information will be updated continously.