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In October in Kyiv, the cooperative audit will be launched on the implementation of one of sustainable development goals – in the healthcare area at the national level. The audit is planning to carry out by the Supreme Audit Institutions of Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus and Azerbaijan. According to the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber Valeriy Patskan, an agreement was reached during the kick-off meeting in Georgia to launch cooperation between the supreme audit institutions of the countries of the Eastern Partnership. The event, with the participation of the chairmen of the Supreme Audit Institutions of Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus and Azerbaijan, takes place within the framework of the implementation of the project of the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) "Strengthening the capacity of the Supreme Audit Institutions of the Eastern Partnership countries to monitor the achievement of sustainable development goals of the United Nations Agenda for the period up to 2030".
"We all need to realize today that both the development of the global community as a whole and the welfare of each of us depend on how these goals will be achieved at the national level, as the government's activities in this area will be effective and efficient. And a new global project that will combine the efforts of supreme audit institutions on monitoring and evaluating of the governments activities of the countries in achieving the sustainable development goals, should contribute to this", Valeriy Patskan said.
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The Chairman of the Accounting Chamber admitted that the basis of the activity of the supreme audit institutions is carrying out performance audits on effectiveness of the national programs implementation. Last year, the Accounting Chamber conducted several audits which are correlated with the sustainable development goals. In particular, they checked the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the use and protection of state-owned agricultural land, the reform of regional health systems, and the protection and rational use of water resources. "Auditing such individual state programs, providing clear, concrete recommendations and monitoring their implementation, contribute to increasing the effectiveness of achieving the main sustainable development goals. But it is no less important to conduct a comprehensive audit of the government's activities regarding its readiness and specific measures to achieve the goal of sustainable development at the national level. In the near future the Accounting Chamber also plans to investigate the progress of the Government of Ukraine towards achieving the sustainable development goals," − Valeriy Patskan emphasised.
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He noted that this year, a group of independent experts within the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) published a Sustainable Development Report. Based on the results of a survey of regional and national missions, experts, government officials, data from various international organizations, national public organisations and research centres, data was provided to 162 countries of the world. Ukraine was among them. "Conclusions, unfortunately, had not been encouraging. But this was a logical consequence. After all, Ukraine has been suffering from Russian military aggression for 5 years. According to the UN, over these years, due to the Russian military aggression in Ukraine, nearly 13 thousand people were killed, approximately 30 thousand were injured. About 1.5 million people became forced migrants. The buildings have been destroyed; equipment from factories and enterprises has been removed from the territory of Ukraine, enormous damage to the environment has been caused! The occupation of the Donbas and the annexation of the Crimea have caused a huge, sometimes irreparable damage to our country!" − the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber said.
He noted that there is currently no clear methodology and standards for assessing such losses and losses among countries affected by military conflicts. That is why, according to Valeriy Patskan, the Accounting Chamber initiated the establishment of INTOSAI Task Force for the audit of actual damage, losses and the use of funds for the restoration of the consequences of a military conflict.
Within the framework of the Task Force, the supreme audit institutions will monitor the efforts of the countries aimed at the implementation of the "Sustainable Development of Cities and Communities" Goals and the "Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions" Goals.
"Today, the supreme audit institutions can contribute to find a balance between satisfying the modern needs of mankind and protecting the interests of future generations, and most importantly − strengthening peace, improving the welfare and well-being," Valeriy Patskan said.
Within the framework of the meeting, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Chamber of Accounts of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Committee of State Control of the Republic of Belarus, State Audit Office of Georgia, and Accounting Chamber of Ukraine. The parties agreed, in the light of the tasks and principles of the INTOSAI and EUROSAI, as well as the ASOSAI, to develop cooperation both on the bilateral and multilateral levels.
In particular, there will be sharing with experience in the field of methodology and standardization of state external audit (control), cooperative audits, expert and analytical measures will be conducted, joint research projects will be carried out, etc.
