The significant progress Pacific supreme audit institutions have made towards independence and the value of regionalism were the key messages to emerge from the 18th Congress of the Pacific Association of the Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) held 13–16 October, Port Vila, Vanuatu. Mr John Path, Auditor General of the Vanuatu Audit Office, welcomed the delegates to the Congress 25 years after it was last held in Vanuatu in 1998. The Congress was attended by the heads or representatives of 24 member SAIs, together with representatives from the international auditing community and a number of development partners.
In his opening address, Mr Path stated, “Independence is the raison e’tre of SAIs”, emphasising the theme of the Congress of securing independence of SAIs to improve the effectiveness of audit findings. Mr Path also assumed the Chairmanship of the PASAI Governing Board, taking over the position from Fuimaono Camillo Afele, Controller and Auditor General of Samoa.
The Congress was opened by the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, the Honourable Meltek Sato Kilman Livtunvanu. Mr Livtunvanu said, “National audit offices are one of the key pillars of a healthy democracy and Vanuatu is no exception”. Importantly, within the PASAI membership, both developed and developing countries believe there is still a way to go towards achieving a desirable level of independence for Supreme Audit Institutions.
Donors and development partners noted that PASAI is a good example of what regionalism can achieve. The Secretary General and Auditor General of New Zealand, Ms Lyn Provost said, “An allied front is necessary to show legislatures across the Pacific the importance of what SAIs do and to strengthen the regional and global influence of Pacific nations on the international stage”.
The Congress also welcomed Chuuk (part of the Federated States of Micronesia) and the Australian Capital Territory as new members of PASAI.
As part of the Congress, PASAI members workshopped the applicability of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to audit institutions, in particular the importance of public auditing as a part of Sustainable Development Goal 16 — peace, justice and strong institutions.
PASAI is one of the seven regional bodies of INTOSAI and the official association of supreme audit institutions (government audit offices and similar organisations, known as SAIs) in the Pacific region. PASAI promotes transparent, accountable, effective, and efficient use of public sector resources in the Pacific. It contributes to that goal by helping its member SAIs improve the quality of public sector auditing in the Pacific to uniformly high standards.
Communiqué of the 18th Congress of the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions
Contact for enquiries: Mr Tiofilusi Tiueti, Chief Executive PASAI Secretariat at:
Email: tiofilusi.tiueti@pasai.org, Telephone: +64 9 304 1275