SAI Egypt Participates in a Number of INTOSAI Meetings and Events, and Leads Key Accountability Efforts

Author: Central Department for International Relations and Conferences, ASA

ASA Contributes to Knowledge Sharing Within the Broader INTOSAI Community

Since January 2022, the Accountability State Authority of Egypt (ASA) participated in a number of meetings and events, contributing to knowledge sharing within the INTOSAI community, as well as the broader auditing community. ASA participated in the following:

• ASA participated in the 3rd Meeting of the Global Experts Team (IGET), organized virtually by Supreme Audit Institution of (SAI) United Arab of Emirates (UAE) in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on March 10, 2022. The Global Experts team is presided over by SAI UAE with the membership of 8 SAIs including SAI Egypt. The Experts Team was established to enhance the cooperation between SAIs and the Anti-Corruption Authorities (ACAs) in the field of combating corruption.
• On April 21, 2022, ASA participated in the first meeting of the Global Collaborative Planning and Review Project Team on Climate Change Adaptation. This team was recently established by the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) in cooperation with the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), and includes participation from a representative of the Climate Change Adaptation Division of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• ASA joined the membership of the African Regional Partnership for Sustainability and SDGs Reporting, and virtually participated in its 2nd meeting, organized by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Cameroon on April 28, 2022 under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
• ASA attended a workshop on “The Experience of the General Auditing Bureau in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the application of SAI-PMF,” organized in-person by the Saudi Bureau from March 13 to 15, 2022. The workshop, within the framework of the memorandum of understanding, enhances cooperation, develops joint and constructive work, and supports supervisory efforts between the two agencies at various levels. In accordance with the twelfth INTOSAI principle, and the value and benefits of SAIs, the ASA has recommended strengthening the SAI role in supporting accountability, transparency, and integrity in government and public business sector units.
• ASA participated as a member of the Financial and Administrative Control Authority of the Arab Organization for Education, Culture and Science (Alexo) in an in-person meeting from March 14 to 22, 2022 at the organization’s headquarters in Tunis. The organization’s financial statements for the last financial year was audited, and an audit report and recommendations were presented.
• ASA participated in the meeting of the Strategic Plan Committee of the Arab Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ARABOSAI) and the consultative meeting for the preparation of the Strategic Plan 2023-2028, in an in-person capacity from March 27 to 30, 2022 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During the consultative meeting, the chair of the committees and the representative of the Secretariat presented their achievements on the preparation of the organization’s new strategic plan, and those within the current 2018-2022 plan. The group also discussed challenges, future plans, and regional plans.

ASA Leadership of the Working Group on the Fight Against Corruption and Money Laundering (WGFACML)

ASA holds the Chairmanship of the Working Group on the Fight Against Corruption and Money Laundering (WGFACML). ASA led and organized the WGFACML’s 15^th Working Group meeting, held virtually on May 11, 2022 under the auspices of H.E. Counsellor, Hesham Badawy, the Chair of the WGFACML. The 15th Meeting was presided over by H.E. Counsellor, Mohamed El-Faisal Youssef, the Vice President of the Accountability State Authority, with the participation of 22 member SAIs, in addition to the ASA’s delegation that included the WGFACML Secretariat members. During the meeting, the WGFACML Secretariat presented the progress report of the achievements made since the working group’s last meeting on November 24, 2020. Additionally, the working group member SAIs of Austria, Mexico, the United States of America, the Russian Federation, Indonesia and France presented on a number of topics in the field of anti-corruption and money laundering. During the meeting, the participating SAIs endorsed selecting SAI Thailand as the host country for the 16th INTOSAI WGFACML Meeting in 2023, to be held in-person.

ASA Audit of the African Union Commission

ASA is mandated to audit the African Union Commission (AUC) and its institutions for the fiscal year ending in December 31, 2021. This audit took place from February 14, 2022 to March 4, 2022 for the interim audit, and from April 4, 2022 to April 15, 2022 for the final audit, where the ASA team participated in auditing the following entities: (1) the AUC Information System in Ethiopia; (2) the African Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), and; (3)  the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child- ACERWC in Lesotho.

H.E. Counsellor Hesham Badawy, President of ASA, mandated the Counsellor Mohamed El-Faisal Youssef; Vice President of the ASA, participate in the virtual meeting of the African Union’s Board of External Auditors (BoEA) on May 26, 2022 in order to adopt the Audit Report of the African Union and its institutions for the fiscal year ending in December 31, 2021 with the participation of the General Auditors of the Board’s member states. ASA carried out the audit work of the AUDA-NEPAD, as well as the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC). Moreover, the meeting addressed the presentation and adoption of the Audit Operation Committee’s (AOC’s) report, which convened on May 23-24, 2022, as well as the minutes of the previous meeting of the African Union’s Board of External Auditors held on November 18, 2021.

ASA Participates in First Coordination Meeting of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)

The COMESA’s twenty-first summit occurred on November 23rd, 2021, entitled “Strengthening Resilience through Strategic Digital Economic Integration”, and the COMESA Strategic Plan 2021-2025 was launched. On March 9, 2022, in light of Egypt’s presidency of the COMESA, a member from SAI Egypt participated in the first coordination meeting of the Coordinating Committee for Technical Development, which is responsible for setting the timeline and implementing Egypt’s vision during the year of its COMESA chairmanship, which was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance. The main elements and themes of the implementation plan discussed as part of Egypt’s vision for the COMESA reformation includes:

• Rationalizing the use of COMESA’s financial resources and setting regulations for the use of the COMESA’s cash reserves fund resources.
• Reviewing the regulations for selecting the General Secretariat staff and taking into account the quotas and the geographical representation upon the selection of the General Secretariat staff. It was proposed to consider restructuring the Committee on the Establishment of Selection Mechanisms and Criteria for COMESA Candidates.
• Studying the issue of setting a determined pension age for the General Secretariat staff.

ASA Participates in Financial and Administrative Control Authority of the Arab Organization for Industrial Development, Standardization, and Mining Efforts.

ASA, in its role as the head of the Financial and Administrative Control Authority of the Arab Organization for Industrial Development, Standardization, and Mining, participated in the organization’s twenty-sixth meeting, held in-person from March 7 through 18, 2022 at the organization’s headquarters in Rabat, Morocco. During this meeting, the audit of all financial and administrative transactions of the Arab organization for the fiscal year 2021 and the submission of a report on the audit’s recommendations and proposals were completed, presented and discussed with the organization’s Governing Board and General Assembly, the committee of Arab organizations, and the Economic and Social Council of the League of Arab States.