HIBAPRESS – W.M.C.
On Wednesday in Rabat, the work of the annual meeting of the working group of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) on the audit of sustainable development goals and key development indicators was opened.
This meeting is held over two days, with the participation of 58 representatives from twenty-two supreme audit institutions, members of the working group, from different continents, in person and remotely, in addition to international and Moroccan experts. It aims to consolidate and share pioneering experiences among the participants regarding the role of supreme audit institutions in tracking the implementation of sustainable development goals, thus contributing to the development of audit methodologies and keeping abreast of public policies related to these goals, as well as supporting international efforts aimed at strengthening their roles in this field. On this occasion, Zineb El Adaoui, the First President of the Supreme Council of Accounts, confirmed that the concept of development has witnessed a profound intellectual transformation in the last two decades, explaining that after decades of limiting it to considerations of "economic growth" of a quantitative nature through the gross domestic product indicator, a new global awareness has emerged that has led to the integration of qualitative approaches in the concept of development and to humanizing it. She added that this path was manifested in the formulation of the concept of "human development" and then "sustainable development", which is based on a balance between its economic, social and environmental dimensions. In this context, El Adaoui highlighted that the Kingdom of Morocco has begun work on the new generation of integrated territorial development programs, where King Mohammed VI gave his directives to formulate them in a way that guarantees their impact on the citizen and establishing effective mechanisms for auditing, follow-up and accompanying monitoring. She pointed out that the Council, in recognition of the vital role of international cooperation in supporting the capacity building of institutions, and thus national government efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals, has had an effective contribution to many related international initiatives. El Adaoui expressed the Supreme Council of Accounts' continuous readiness to support the activities and initiatives of the "INTOSAI" and "ARABOSAI" working groups for sustainable development, believing in the utmost importance of the subject of sustainable development, which "has become in the current contexts a vital field and an imperative necessity for our countries". She praised the international collective effort led by the "INTOSAI" organization as the global audit conscience in keeping abreast of the national roles of the audit institutions, noting the global impact of the audit institutions in the structures of the United Nations. For his part, Dmitry Zaitsev, head of the secretariat of the working group of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, noted that the past year was marked by important developments and strong mobilization of the members of the organization's working group, highlighting the quality of the contributions made and the role of the secretariat in unifying the work of INTOSAI, as well as its implementation by many supreme audit institutions. Zaitsev, who is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Accounts in the Russian Federation, shed light on the conclusions stemming from the recent United Nations assessments, which indicate a noticeable slowdown in the progress made towards achieving the goals of the 2030 sustainable development agenda, noting that most of the goals set are unlikely to be achieved. He added that these challenges particularly affect key areas such as climate action, the protection of biodiversity, and sustainable development, which require structural transformations, explaining that the inadequacy of data limits the formulation of viable policies. He stressed the pivotal role of supreme audit institutions within the "INTOSAI" organization and the importance of strengthening international cooperation, developing joint methodologies, and exchanging the best experiences in order to improve the effectiveness of public policies and support the achievement of sustainable development goals.
