New Delhi, With an aim to develop and strengthen professional capacity and improve methodologies in the field of audit of public finance, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Auditor General of Maldives signed an MoU on Sunday, an official said.

 

The agreement, signed in Male by visiting CAG Girish Chandra Murmu and Auditor General Hussain Niyazy, aims at exchanging information in the field of public sector audit between India and Maldives.

The top auditors of the two counties have also agreed to conduct training programmes in their respective countries for their staff on a need basis and explore other means of capacity development support and cooperate on areas that are mutually beneficial.

On the occasion, Murmu said that India, being a signatory to the Environmental Accounting efforts of the UN, has committed to monitor 25 environment related targets with particular attention being paid to target no 15.9 related with Environmental - Economic Accounting which envisages to integrate the ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts.

"The MoU signed between the two SAIs will bring greater flexibility and dynamism in knowledge transfer and cooperation between our SAIs. Smart auditing practices, faster and efficient data analysis, as well as capacity building by skilling our teams in latest best practices will go a long way in creating a firm foundation for the growth goals of both economies," he said.

At the occasion, Niyazy expressed his deep appreciation to his Indian counterpart for their continued support and generous assistance in helping his institution build and develop the necessary capacities of its staff through International Centre for Information Systems and Audit (iCISA) and International Training Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (iCED) of the CAG.

iCISA has conducted two virtual training programmes for the staff of the Auditor General's Office (AGO) in 2021. In previous years, scores of the AGO staff have attended training programmes run by iCISA which are funded by the Indian government under the Indian Technical Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme.

In addition, members of AGO staff have participated in training programmes on environmental audit conducted by iCED.

The institutional relationship between the government auditors was formally established in 2008 with the signing of an MOU, which led to strengthening of ties owing to close bilateral relations and regional cooperation and the fact both the institutions are members of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) and the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).