At the invitation of the President of the State Audit Organization (SAO) of Laos, the State Audit Office of Viet Nam (SAV), in its capacity as Chair of ASEANSAI Strategic Planning Committee, shared experiences with over 40 participants of SAO of Laos on MES from May 9-11, 2023 at Vientiane, Lao P.D.R.
Participants of SAO of Laos and other delegates at the training course
Delivering the opening remarks, the Vice President Mr. Toy Phonethilath of SAO of Laos emphasized that the course aimed to provide its auditors, officials with experiences in the use and application of MES in regional activities and operational practices of SAO of Laos. The Vice President highly appreciated the participation and sharing of SAV’s experts in its role as Chair of ASEANSAI Strategic Planning Committee, as well as affirmed that the training course not only strengthened the capacity of the SAO of Laos, but also expressed the close and sincere relationship between the two offices, contributing to further tightening the strong and lasting friendship between the two countries of Lao P.D.R and Viet Nam.
MES Guidelines was initiated by SAV in 2014 in its capacity as Chair of ASEANSAI Strategic Planning Committee with a view to giving guidance on the application of tools to monitor and evaluate the implementation of ASEANSAI annual activities to realize ASEANSAI Strategic Plan’s goals and objectives. Based on experiences of pilot application of MES since 2015 among ASEANSAI Committees with the support of GIZ experts, MES Guidelines was revised and officially approved at the 5th ASEANSAI Summit in Malaysia in November 2019.
Overview of the training course
The training course on MES Guidelines was hosted by SAO of Laos with the Australian Government’s support through the World Bank. The course explained the set of MES’s tools, including Participants Evaluation Sheet, Activity Assessment Sheet, Committee Progress Report and Annual Results Report on the implementation of ASEANSAI Strategic Plan.
With a two-way interaction and learner-centered training method, the participants of SAO of Laos actively took part in case studies to better understand the method of applying these tools both in ASEANSAI activities and in their office work.
Director General of the ICD of SAO of Laos Mr. Heng Khanthavisay and Deputy Director General of the ICD of SAV Mrs. Lang Trinh Mai Huong delivered closing remarks
Delivering the closing remarks, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Cooperation Department of SAV Mrs. Lang Trinh Mai Huong highly appreciated the effort of auditors and officials of SAO of Laos who actively participated in exchanging knowledge and sharing valuable insights from the participants' practical activities.
On May 11, 2023, Department of International Cooperation of the two offices held a bilteral meeting to review detailed activities to be organzied in 2023 and in the coming time. The two sides discussed in-depth the organization plan for the professional conference on the topic of Audit Quality Control and Assurance at the request of SAO of Lao to be held in June 2023, the training course for SAO of Laos in Viet Nam expected to be held in the fourth quarter of 2023, the plan to organize the Tripartite Meeting between the SAIs of Cambodia – Laos – Viet Nam expected to be held at the end of August 2023 and the project on improving the administration of office operations in the direction of modernization of SAO of Laos (E-Office Project).
Moreover, as requested, SAV shared practical experiences in soliciting and implementing funded projects. Leaders of International Cooperation Departments of the two offices affirmed their continued effort to coordinate closely to strengthen the cooperative relationship between the two sides and contribute to tightening the friendship between the two countries of Viet Nam and Lao P.D.R./.