Vietnamese, Senegalese state audit agencies set up cooperation

Dakar (VNA) - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Nguyen Duc Hai attended a working session between Vietnamese State Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan and President of the Court of Auditors of Senegal Mamadou Faye in Dakar on July 24 (local time).

The working session took place as part of Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man's ongoing official visit to Senegal.

Mamadou Faye provided an overview of Senegal’s current economic, political and social situation and outlined the role and operations of the Court of Auditors. He described the Court of Auditors as Senegal’s highest financial jurisdiction agency that is responsible for overseeing, inspecting and evaluating the use of public budgets and assets.

For his part, Tuan briefed his counterpart on recent activities of the State Audit Office of Vietnam and expressed his desire to enhance cooperation and exchange experiences in public auditing with Senegalese colleagues.

Speaking at the session, Hai emphasised the long-standing friendship and sound cooperation between Vietnam and Senegal, despite the geographical distance.

He noted that the Vietnamese community in Senegal numbers around 3,000 people, and highlighted the popularity of Vietnam’s traditional martial art Vovinam in the West African country.

The official commended Senegal on its recent achievements and expressed his confidence that bilateral ties across various fields would continue to strengthen in the coming years. On this occasion, he also updated the hosts on Vietnam’s economic performance in the first half of 2025.

Hai stressed that the Vietnamese Party and State have believed in and highly evaluated the State Audit Office's operations, particularly in safeguarding fiscal transparency and reinforcing the confidence of international partners in Vietnam’s economic cooperation efforts.

Although this is the first formal engagement between the two auditing bodies, Hai and the audit leaders of both countries agreed on the potential for effective cooperation in the near future. They expressed interest in sharing expertise in areas of mutual strength and global concern, such as the application of technology in auditing and audit practices that support sustainable development.

The NA Vice Chairman also expressed his hope that the two sides would continue to support each other within the framework of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), with the aim of promoting sustainable development and elevating the role of supreme audit institutions.

At the session, Mamadou Faye proposed new areas of cooperation, including audits related to climate change, digital transformation, public financial oversight in digital environments, and pilot applications of artificial intelligence in auditing.

At the end of the session, the leaders of the two audit agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding, paving the way for cooperation in a wide range of fields./.