For people with visual impairments
During a working trip to Lisbon within the framework of the 57th meeting of the EUROSAI Governing Board, Valeriy Patskan the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber held a number of bilateral meetings with the heads of supreme audit institutions: the Comptroller and Auditor General, Gareth Davies, the head of the National Audit Office of the United Kingdom (the UK); the Minister Antonio Anastasia, the Federal Court of Accounts of Brazil; Jose Tavares, the President of the Court of Auditors of Portugal and Ismail Chai, the member of the Turkish Court of Accounts – director general.
During the meeting with the Head of the National Audit Office of the UK (the NAO), the parties discussed the issue of intensifying cooperation on the development of audit approaches to evaluate damages and losses and the use of funds for the recovery of overcoming the consequences of military actions.
"In Prague on May, Gareth Davies and I agreed to work together on the development of such a methodology. The British have practical experience in this area, as they had been engaged in such work after military actions in Iraq. Specialists of the Accounting Chamber and the NAO have already started communication in this direction. So we have already discussed further steps for cooperation on this issue. And we also agreed on conducting a coordinated audit of the funds allocated by the Great Britain for the reconstruction of Ukraine in the future," Valeriy Patskan said.
The Chairman of the Accounting Chamber also invited the Turkish Court of Accounts to join the SAIs of other countries in developing audit approaches to evaluate damages and losses and the use of funds for the recovery of overcoming the consequences of military actions caused to Ukraine by the war started by russia.
With Ismail Chai, Valeriy Patskan also discussed the issue of Turkey's support in the reconstruction of Ukraine and the possibility of conducting a coordinated audit on the restoration of infrastructure on the results of projects implementation . The agreement on Turkey's intention to help Ukraine in reconstructing its infrastructure was signed on August. After all, the scale of damages due to the full-scale invasion of russia is huge, and today it is necessary to clearly understand how many losses Ukraine has in all spheres, the size of direct and indirect losses, whether they have been fully evaluated and calculated. An independent audit opinion obtained according to international standards will significantly increase the credibility of the figures and facts presented by the government in the eyes of the international community.
At the meeting with the Minister of the Federal Court of Accounts of Brazil, the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber raised the issue of the earliest possible exclusion of the Accounts Chamber of russian federation from the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions INTOSAI, which unites 196 full members. Also, during the negotiations, Valeriy Patskan initiated a complete boycott of the russian delegation at the official events of the INCOSAI 2022 on November in Brazil.
"My position is clear: russia, a terrorist country, has no place in highly respected international organizations. At my request, immediately after russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine at the beginning of March, the head of the Accounts Chamber of russian federation suspended the holding of the INTOSAI Presidency. Assuming the role and duties emerging from the INTOSAI Presidency were divided between the Secretary General (SAI of Austria) and the First Vice-President of INTOSAI (SAI of Brazil). The exclusion of russia should be the next step," the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber emphasized.
During the meeting with the Head of the Contact Committеe of the Supreme Audit Instituions of the EU, the President of the Court of Auditors of the Portuguese Republic, José Tavares, Valeriy Patskan emphasized the importance of including the Accounting Chamber in the Network of the SAIs of EU candidate and potential candidates countries.
"Our goal is a regular exchange of information, development of audit methodology and professional training of auditors. Specialists of the Accounting Chamber are ready for coordinated work in directions of common interest, in particular in matters of control of funds allocated by the European Union for projects aimed at reconstruction and development of Ukraine. They are also ready to conduct audits of macro-financial assistance provided to Ukraine by the EU," he said.
Valeriy Patskan expressed his gratitude to colleagues from Portugal, the UK, Brazil and Turkey for supporting the Accounting Chamber and Ukraine in general in resisting russian aggression.
