CAG of India and Auditor General of Maldives sign MOU to strengthen public audit

Auditor General (AG) of Maldives, Mr Hussain Niyazy and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Mr Girish Chandra Murmu | Photo: AGO

Malé, Maldives – The Auditor General’s Office of the Maldives and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 24 October 2021 to strengthen existing relations and bilateral cooperation between both parties.

The MOU was signed between Auditor General (AG) of Maldives, Mr Hussain Niyazy and Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Mr Girish Chandra Murmu who is on an official visit to the Maldives at the invitation of the Auditor General of Maldives.

In signing the MOU, both parties underscored the importance of collaborating with each other in the areas of mutual interest to enhance the professional capacity of both the institutions and improve their methodologies in the field of public audit. The parties 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.

The institutional relationship between the Auditor General’s Office of the Maldives and the Office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India was formally established in 2008 with the signing of an MOU between the two institutions. The MOU led to the strengthening of ties that both the institutions had always enjoyed owing to close bilateral relations and regional cooperation between the Maldives and India and due to the fact both the institutions are members of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) and the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).

The Auditor General of Maldives, Mr Hussain Niyazy, expressed his deep appreciation to the CAG of India 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 Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The CAG of India, Mr Girish Chandra Murmu, expressed confidence that through the collaborative efforts under the MoU, both Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) could work together to strengthen respective institution’s professional capacity and improve methodologies in the field of audit of public finance. The MoU will bring greater flexibility and dynamism in knowledge transfer and cooperation between the two SAIs. Smart auditing practices, faster and efficient data analysis, as well as capacity building by skilling our teams in the latest best practices will go a long way in creating a firm foundation for the growth goals of both economies.