As reported earlier, within the framework of the 55th ASOSAI Governing Board virtual meeting on the afternoon of July 27, the proposal of establishing a working group on SDGs was officially approved on the basis of the report of the ASOSAI’s Special Committee.
Representative of the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea attends the meeting (screen shot captured)
In his report at the meeting, the representative of the State Audit Bureau of Kuwait (SAB) reminded of a working paper titled “The role of SAIs in promoting SDGs” which was presented at the 54th ASOSAI Governing Board meeting in Kuwait between 23-24 July 2019. The paper proposed forming a new working group within ASOSAI that revolves around SDGs. The group’s purpose is to exchange knowledge and experience among different SAIs in the area of SDGs for the next ten years (until 2030), to enrich said field on both regional and international levels.
According to the ASOSAI’s rules and regulations, one of the Governing Board’s functions is “to appoint Committees for specific purposes, projects, and lay down the rules of procedure for each Committee”. Therefore, the Governing Board has decided to form a Special Committee to study the feasibility of the proposal and has elected SAB to be the leader of this Committee of which consists of six members, including : China, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
The SAB’s representative clearly stated that according to the ASOSAI organizational chart, there is no working group/ committee dedicated to the follow-up of SDGs. In fact, the ASOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) has an essential role in undertaking SDGs’ activities/ projects related to environmental issues. However, SDGs include two other dimensions related to social and economic aspects that have no precise management within the ASOSAI structure. Moreover, the ASOSAI WGEA would be operating out of its scope if it assumed responsibility for the two other dimensions.
Representative of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation attends the meeting (screen shot captured)
On the other hand, Hanoi Declaration which was adopted during the 14th ASOSAI Assembly held in Vietnam in September 2018 identified the role of ASOSAI and its endeavor towards achieving SDGs. The Declaration set out two Strategic Goals (SG) including: SG 1 “Promote knowledge sharing and capacity development among the ASOSAI community in the field of environmental auditing for sustainable development” has been taken charge by National Audit Office of the People’s Republic of China in its capacity as the Chair of the ASOSAI WGEI and SG 2 “Implement SDGs and address the global environmental challenges” is dispersed with having individual project/ research teams. “Therefore, having a working group responsible for SDGs for the next 10 years is essential in providing further assurance of effectiveness in the implementation of the second Strategic Goal” – the report stated.
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Currently, the ASOSAI has been conducting many ongoing projects related to SDGs. However, cooperative/ coordinated audits on SDGs relevant to social and economic dimensions or other joint ASOSAI regional progress reports on SDGs are yet to be conducted (except for the IDI-ASOSAI Cooperative Performance Audit Programme on SDGs in 2020 – 2021), in which the social and economic aspects may be chosen according to the national targets of participating SAIs’ countries.
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The Working Group on SDGs should coordinate and work closely with the ASOSAI WGEA and Capacity Development Administrator (CDA) in activities/ projects related to SDGs to avoid overlap and to enhance cooperation among them. The Working Group would also participate in workshops, seminars and meeting pertaining to SDGs at INTOSAI and United Nation’s level. The Working Group will continue its service until the end of the UN Agenda (2030). The main objective of the ASOSAI Working Groupon SDGs is to promote the role of ASOSAI members in assessing the implementation of SDGs in the region.
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At the meeting, after having been approved the proposal of establishing the ASOSAI Working Group on SDGs, Vietnam’s Auditor General Ho Duc Phoc as the Chairman of ASOSAI asked the Working Group to conduct the following procedures such as developing its Term of Reference, identifying its members in order to make a report at the 56th ASOSAI Governing Board Meeting in Thailand in 2021.