Cooperation with other INTOSAI Regional Organisations

EUROSAI has taken on a firm commitment in its collaboration and communication with the INTOSAI Regional Organisations. This cooperation has been started up progressively by means of joint conferences between the Chairs of SAIs and Auditors General, which commenced with OLACEFS in 2000, with ARABOSAI in 2006, and with ASOSAI in 2011.

In 2012 the EUROSAI Governing Board agreed in its XXXIX Meting to invite AFROSAI to take part in a regular cooperation and, as a result, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in the beginning of 2014.

Regular Conferences are celebrated jointly by EUROSAI and OLACEFS. To date, eight Conferences have taken place (Spain, Colombia, United Kingdom, Peru, Portugal, Venezuela, Georgia and Ecuador).

• The First Conference  took place in Madrid (Spain) on 17 and 18 February 2000. The topics discuss in the meeting were:
  • "The public external controls in the Processes of Integration and Globalisation"
  • “Experiences in the field of Cooperation by the SAIs in the present processes of integration in the scope of EUROSAI and OLACEFS”, and,
  • “Perspectives in the field of control and cooperation of the SAI in the Scope of EUROSAI and OLACEFS."
    
    
• The Second Conference, under the title “Topics of Tax Audit: Advances and Perspectives", took place in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia) on 10 and 11 July 2002.
  
  
• The Third Conference took place in London (United Kingdom) from 11 to 14 May 2004. It dealt with “Audit in the 21st Century", paying special attention to two aspects:
  • "The experiences of SAIs and e-Government", and,
  • "Training and equipping modern state auditors for their role".
    
    
•  The Fourth Conference took place in Lima (Peru), on 17 and 18 November 2005. The following topics were discussed:
  • "Audit of the patrimony and incomes of public representatives. Procedures to avoid  conflicts of interest: existing legislations and possible SAI performance", and,
  • "Methodology to evaluate and measure the impact of SAI's audit in the saving and good use of public resources".
    
    
• The Fifth Conference took place in Portugal, on 10 and 11 May 2007. The Theme of the Conference was: "Fiscal sustainability, presentation of accounts and accountability".
  
  
• The Sixth Conference was held in Margarita Island (Venezuela), from 13  to16 May 2009. The Theme of the Conference was: "Present and future challenges, defense and preservation of natural resources". The sub-themes were:
  • " Role of the SAIs on the safeguard of the patrimony of natural resources of a nation", and
  • " Importance of environmental joint audits in a global world".

  A Memorandum of Understanding for the Development of the Environmental Performance Audit on Cooperation in the Amazon region and an annex to it were approved at the Conference.

• The Seventh Conference  was held in Georgia from 17 to 19 September 2012. The Theme of the Conference was “Good governance in public sector: Role of the SAIs”. This theme was developed in two sub-themes:
  • "Enhancing Stakeholder Confidence: Auditing Management Integrity, Accountability and ‘Tone at the Top’" and
  • "Public Finance Management Reform: Trends and Lessons Learned ".

  The Tbilisi Statement was approved at the end of the Conference.

• The Eighth Conference was held in Quito (Ecuador) from 24 to 26 June 2015. The topics discussed at the conference were "Coordinated audits" and "SAI’s contribution to good governance".
  Within the first topic, "Coordinated audits", the following areas were discussed:
  • Coordinated audits: Overcoming obstacles
  • Coordinated audits as a tool for monitoring sustainable development goals
  • Coordinated audits and professional development, and
  • Coordinated audits and institutional development.

  In the second theme, "SAI’s contribution to good governance" the following parallel working meetings were held:

  • SAIs and Open Data
  • Transparency, Audit and Ethics
  • Promotion of SAIs in terms of best practices for Public Administration, and
  • SAIs and the Open Government Partnership
    
    
• The Ninth Conference was held online, on 9-11 September 2020. The theme of the Conference - “Increasing the impact of SAI’s work” – was approached from the perspective of the most actual and relevant topic, the Covid-19 crisis, being the motto of the event: “The COVID 19 pandemic: a unique opportunity for Supreme Audit Institutions to highlight the impact of their work”. Information about the outcomes of the Conference can be found here.

EUROSAI and ARABOSAI began in 2006 a regular cooperation in the institutional and technical scopes.

• The First Conference was held in Tunisia (Tunisia), on 1 and 2 December 2006.The Theme discussed was: “Privatisation and its impact on the management of services public”, developed in four sub-subjects:
  • “Privatisation: Concept, Evolution and regulatory and Institutional Framework”
  • “Purview of European SAIs in the Field of Audit of Privatisation and Challenges in the Discharge of their Missions in this Regard”
  • “Best Practices in the Field of Audit of Privatisation”
  • “Study cases on concrete audit actions in the audit field”

  This Conference was preceded by a meeting between the EUROSAI Governing Board and the ARABOSAI Executive Council to promote a closer approach between both Organisations and to discuss the terms of cooperation. (Memorandum of Understanding between EUROSAI and ARABOSAI)

• The Second Conference took place in Paris (France), on 30 and 31 March 2009, under the Theme: "The role of SAIs in the development of the State agencies performance ".This theme is developed under three sub-themes:
  • "Assessing the situation of States’ public finances"
  • "Assessing and improving the effectiveness of public actions"
  • "The expectations of modernization’s stakeholders: Executive, Parliament and citizens".
    
    
• The Third Conference took place in Abu Dhabi (Arab Emirates), on 29 and 30 March 2011. The Theme of the Conference was “Transparency, Accountability and Fight against Fraud”.

  The “Abu Dhabi Declaration” was adopted at the Conference, where EUROSAI and ARABOSAI got the commitment of working together to promote in their Regions the implementation of the ISSAIs in that respect and to contributing to intensifying the fight against corruption.

• The Fourth Conference was organised by the SAI of Azerbaijan, in Baku, on 16-18 April 2013. The panel discussions was held on “Modern challenges for SAIs capacity building” as a main theme, as well as on the following three sub-themes (Subtheme 1: Responsibilities of Supreme Public Authorities arising from the challenges of UN General Assembly Resolution A/66/209, 22 December 2011; Sub-theme 2: Role of SAIs in achieving national development goals; Sub-theme 3: Importance of specifying the boundaries and targets of external and internal public financial control in improving public financial management). The Baku Statement was approved at the end of the Conference.
  
  
• The Fifth ARABOSAI - EUROSAI Joint Conference  was held in Doha (Qatar) on 7-9 December 2015. The main theme was “The role of SAIs in the oversight of government bailout plans” which was developed through discussion panels on the two sub-themes: “The role of SAIs in monitoring the implementation of bailout plans” and “Future perceptions of the role of SAIs in warning against the risk of financial crises”.

  The Doha Statement was approved at the end of the Conference.

Cooperation between EUROSAI and ASOSAI has been launched in 2011.

• The First Conference took place in Istanbul (Turkey) from 22 to 24 September 2011, between the Governing Boards of both Organisations. The Theme for discussion was “Challenges for ensuring transparency and accountability in public financial management”: This Theme was covered both, from a strategic global perspective as well as focussed on some relevant specific areas of the public management.

  A Memorandum of Understanding between EUROSAI and ASOSAI was approved at the Conference, where the main lines for future cooperation between both Organisations were set up.

• The Second Conference EUROSAI-ASOSAI Conference, with the participation of the Governing Boards of both organisations, was held in Moscow from the 25th till the 27th September 2014 and the theme of the event was “Lessons learnt from the past experiences of adopting the ISSAIs and their future implications”.

  The Moscow Statement was approved at the end of the Conference.

• The Third EUROSAI-ASOSAI Joint Conference was held in Jerusalem (Israel), from 10 to 14 March 2019, being the participation open for the first time to all members of both Regional Organisations. The central theme of the meeting was "Emerging Issues and Emergency Situations", which was developed through the following sub-themes:
  • "Emerging Issues", such as the challenges of migration and refugees; population ageing; pensions; UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDS); digitisation; blockchain; and bigdata.
  • "Emergency Situations", such as the preparedness for natural disasters (earthquakes, forest fires, tsunamis, etc.); disaster management; terrorist attacks; and threats to cybersecurity.

Cooperation between EUROSAI and AFROSAI was launched in 2014 with the signing of a MoU by the Presidents and the Secretaries General of both Organisations. The signing ceremony took place on the 31st January 2014 in Lisbon and marked the beginning of a new phase in the relations between these two INTOSAI Regional Organisations. This Memorandum is being developed through a framework of professional cooperation between both organisations.

• The first joint Seminar EUROSAI–AFROSAI took place in Lisbon, on 21-22 November 2019, under the theme Auditing for Sustainable Development Goals: a view from different Regions. The 147 participants from 54 Institutions expressed their support for a set of key ideas and future perspectives reflected on the 1st EUROSAI-AFROSAI Seminar – Outlook, that can be consulted here.