Upon attending the 13th United Nations Conference on Debt Management on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), on December 6, 2022, at the headquarters of the Office UN in Geneva, Switzerland, Auditor General of Viet Nam Ngo Van Tuan had a working session with UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan. Attending the meeting were Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, Head of the Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the United Nations, World Trade Organization and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland
Auditor General of Vietnam Ngo Van Tuan met with UNCTAD Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan at the headquarters of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland (Photo: To Uyen, VNA in Geneva)
At the meeting, the Auditor General of Viet Nam Ngo Van Tuan updated the recent situation of public debt management, policies and results of Viet Nam's socio-economic development, emphasizing that despite the epidemic situation, state budget revenue decreased while expenditures on epidemic response, social security and infrastructure construction increased, yet Viet Nam's public debt is still under control, promoting socio-economic development, improving people's living standards.
Introducing the role of the State Audit Office of Viet Nam (SAV) in State budget and public debt management, the Auditor General of Viet Nam said that SAV plays a particularly important role in improving the efficiency of management and use of public finance, public investment, contributing to the fight against corruption, negativity, building a clean and strong public finance. Every year SAV conducts approximately 230 audits, issues roughly 270 audit reports, serving the supreme supervision of the National Assembly, the People's Council and the administration of the Government and the People's Committee. In addition to early detection, handling and timely correction of mistakes in the management and use of public finance and public assets, SAV also proposes overall solutions to ensure the long-term sustainability of the budget. Through audit results, SAV has proposed adjusting the public debt reporting data to reflect the reality of debt, public debt safety indicators through audit to be publicized and transparent in the management and use of public debt; pointed out the inadequacies, shortcomings and limitations in the management and use of public debt to propose rectification, remedy and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public debt management in accordance with the law; pointed out policy inadequacies, proposed an improvement of legal and policy frameworks; and developed an information system to serve, monitor, supervise and evaluate, contributing to ensuring the sustainability of public debt.
Concerning the development orientation and SAV's new auditing areas auditing, the Auditor General of Vietnam shared that the Strategy for Development of SAV to 2030 addresses three development pillars including the legal framework, human resources and information technology (IT), focusing on developing high-quality human resources, grasping technology and modern auditing methods to improve audit quality. Currently, SAV is promoting and improving the quality of auditing in new audit areas including environmental audit, information technology audit, public procurement audit, etc.
On this occasion, the Auditor General of Viet Nam wished that the Secretary-General of UNCTAD would boost assistance for and share experiences with SAV, particularly in the aforementioned new fields, while also facilitating and supporting the Permanent Representative Delegation of Viet Nam to the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international organizations in Geneva to successfully complete the tasks set by the Vietnamese Party and State; he also wished that the UNCTAD Delegation would assist SAV in connecting with partners with strengths and expertise in these fields, opening up cooperation opportunities for SAV.
Auditor General of Viet Nam Ngo Van Tuan having a discussion with UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan (Photo: To Uyen, VNA in Geneva)
UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan highly appreciated that Auditor General of Viet Nam Ngo Van Tuan attended and made a speech at the 13th UNCTAD Conference on debt management, in which he shared Viet Nam's experience in this area, expressing the voices of developing countries, thereby promoting the sharing of experiences in public debt management.
UNCTAD Secretary-General expressed his impression of Viet Nam's continuous efforts over many years in building and perfecting the policy framework and State institutions; achievements that Viet Nam has made in recent times in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic, in socio-economic development, in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, as well as in the current Sustainable Development Goals. "Viet Nam is a great example of success for other countries to learn from and I congratulate Viet Nam on its important achievements in socio-economic development. It is Viet Nam's system of state institutions and effective policies that have helped bring about impressive socio-economic development accomplishments" - emphasized UNCTAD Secretary General.
UNCTAD Secretary-General said that UNCTAD has extensive connections related to the field of environmental audit and information technology audit (IT), specifically modern IT audit tools that can share the best practices for SAV. “UNCTAD and I personally support and will try to promote connectivity, comprehensive cooperation and exchange with SAV on issues of mutual concern in the coming time” - UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan affirmed./.
UNCTAD is the largest economic and commercial organization of the United Nations system, established in 1964, with its head office located in Geneva (Switzerland); is a division of the United Nations Secretariat, reports to the United Nations General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, but has its own membership, leadership and budget. UNCTAD is also part of the United Nations Development Agencies Group, which, together with other United Nations Commissions and agencies, measures progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the Agenda 2030.
UNCTAD helps developing countries cope with the potential limitations of deep economic integration. The general purpose of UNCTAD is to promote economic development in general and trade in particular of all member countries, especially developing countries. |