1st EUROSAI-AFROSAI Joint Seminar

1st EUROSAI-AFROSAI Joint Seminar on “Sharing experiences about auditing for SDGs_A view from Different Regions” was held in Lisboa, Portugal on 21-22 November 2019 with the hosting of the Tribunal de Contas of Portugal and participation of approximately 150 representatives from members SAIs of EUROSAI and AFROSAI as well as representatives from some national and international organizations.

In the first day of the Seminar, following the welcome speech of Mr. Vitor Caldeira, President of Portugal SAI and message of Secretary General of the UN, opening speeches by the representatives of the Presidencies of INTOSAI, AFROSAI and EUROSAI were made on the regional progress on SDGs. Mr. Seyit Ahmet BAŞ, President of the Turkish Court of Accounts and EUROSAI, made in his opening speech an overall assessment of the EUROSAI’s and members’ experiences regarding the SDG audits.

Stakeholders view, including both the Portuguese and European Union perspective, was also shared by the representatives from Portuguese national agencies and European Commission.

In Session II, SAI of Brazil shared its experience in environmental audit while in the roundtable discussion, moderated by the ECA, representatives from EUROSAI, AFROSAI-E and OLACEFS presented their regions’ experience on SDG audits.

Session III was designed to be composed of 4 parallel workshops based on effective experiences of auditing for SDGs. Workshops 1 and 2 focused on the experiences in assessing the readiness of governments for the implementation of SDGs while Workshop 3 hosted the presentations on SAIs’ experiences in auditing specific SDGs and Workshop 4 included both. Turkish Court of Accounts shared the results of its audit in Workshop 4 which is titled as “Preparedness of Government for implementation of SDGs in Turkey”.

First day of the Seminar was concluded with the presentations by Moderators of the results from workshops.

Second day of the Seminar continued with the general outlook of EUROSAI-AFROSAI Seminar together with a Declaration on the crucial role of the SAIs on SDG audits. The Seminar ended with the Closing Addresses of Secretary Generals of EUROSAI, AFROSAI, INTOSAI and lastly the President of Tribunal de Contas of Portugal.

After the Seminar, an Official Ceremony was organized to celebrate the 630th Anniversary of Casa dos Contos and the 170th Anniversary of Tribunal de Contas of Portugal.