Auditor General of the State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) Ho Duc Phoc received the chairmanship of the Asian Organisation for Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) from Malaysia at the first plenary session of the 14th ASOSAI Assembly in Hanoi on September 19.

Auditor General of the State Audit Office of Vietnam Ho Duc Phoc speaks at the plenary session of the 14th ASOSAI Assembly in Hanoi on September 19

The plenary session followed a ceremony to open the 14th ASOSAI Assembly and celebrate 40 years of the ASOSAI Charter.

In his speech, Phoc said it is an honour for him to assume the chairmanship of ASOSAI in the 2018-2021 term, noting that it is also the pride of the SAV as well as the Vietnamese people.

The SAV will continue making utmost efforts to help build a strong ASOSAI community to contribute to economic development in Asia and around the world, he added.

At the plenum, Auditor General of the National Audit Office of China Hu Zejun, who is also head of the ASOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA), delivered a report of the WGEA.

She said thanks to the joint efforts of all member supreme audit institutions (SAIs), the WGEA successfully implemented the action plan for 2014-2016 and is actively performing the tasks under the action plan for 2017-2019.

Over the past years, the WGEA has implemented many important activities, including the 6th and 7th seminars on environmental auditing, the 5th and 6th working meetings of the WGEA, promoting cooperation in environmental auditing across Asia, maintaining regular contact within ASOSAI, launching exchanges with working groups in other regions, and sharing experience in environmental auditing in Asia.

It has actively taken part in activities of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Working Group on Environmental Auditing. The member SAIs have also participated in projects relating to climate change and air pollution fight, agricultural and food production.

Hu said pushing ahead with the action plan for 2017-2019, the WGEA will take active measures to reform environmental auditing techniques and step up cooperation. The ASOSAI Secretariat will also make stronger efforts in the WGEA’s activities and continually contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development in Asia.

At the session, ASOSAI Secretary General Choe Jaehyeong, who is Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection of the Republic of Korea, reported on activities of the ASOSAI Secretariat since the previous assembly. 

Accordingly, the ASOSAI approved the Strategic Plan for 2016-2021. The ASOSAI Strategic Plan Management Task Force, led by the Secretary General, has developed annual operation plans since 2016 to ensure the successful implementation of the Strategic Plan. So far, this plan has been carried out very well, he noted.

In this period, the ASOSAI Secretariat has bolstered cooperation with other regional bodies such as the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI), the African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (AFRSAI), as well as INTOSAI.

He announced that the 52nd meeting of the ASOSAI Governing Board in Hanoi on September 18 accepted the SAI of Palestine to become the 47th member of the organisation.

At the plenary session, participants chose the SAI of Thailand as host of the 15th ASOSAI Assembly in 2021 and the SAI of China as ASOSAI Secretary General for 2018-2021.

The 14th ASOSAI Assembly is taking place in Hanoi from September 19 to 22 under the theme “Environmental Audit for Sustainable Development”.–VNA