From 9 to 11 June of this year, Ilze Bādere, Council Member of the State Audit Office and Director of the Financial Audit Department, along with Nataļja Mihailova, Head of the Education and Culture Sector of the Third Audit Department, conducted an experience exchange visit to Yerevan, Armenia. The State Audit Office shared its approach on topics relevant to a modern supreme audit institution, such as formulating audit recommendations, monitoring their implementation, and communication activities, including those related to the implementation of recommendations. This was the first visit of our experts to Armenia within the project “Building the Capacity of Supreme Audit Institutions of the EU Eastern Partnership Countries and Uzbekistan in the Process of Integrating the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI)”.
Over three intensive working days of both theory and practical exercises, our experts provided support to more than 30 colleagues from the Audit Chamber of the Republic of Armenia, presenting Latvia's practice in defining audit recommendations, agreeing on them with audited entities, and monitoring their implementation. During the visit, we discussed the challenges that arise when defining and monitoring recommendations, and measuring the impact achieved. Our experts also had the opportunity to meet with the Council Members of the Supreme Audit Institution of Armenia responsible for overseeing the activities of the performance, compliance and financial audit departments. At the upper management level, we discussed the priorities for cooperation between our institutions and plans for further support.
The State Audit Office of Latvia, as an international partner and support provider to the Supreme Audit Institution of Armenia in areas such as improving the formulation of audit recommendations and monitoring their implementation, as well as follow-up audits, has been included in the development strategy of the Supreme Audit Institution of Armenia 2026–2032. This demonstrates the institution’s long-term commitment to an experience exchange partnership with the State Audit Office of Latvia.
Following the visit, the experts of the State Audit Office of Latvia concluded that the Supreme Audit Institution of Armenia is ready and interested in continuing cooperation with the State Audit Office by ensuring mutual exchange of experience on various issues relevant to supreme audit institutions.
Since 2016, the State Audit Office of Latvia has annually implemented development cooperation projects to support the supreme audit institutions of the EU Eastern Partnership countries and Uzbekistan. This year, the beneficiaries are the SAIs of Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Funding is provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ budget programme for development cooperation projects and international assistance in accordance with the Development Cooperation Policy Plan of Latvia.