On 14 November 2023, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and the National Audit Office of the People’s Republic of China with the participation of the Chamber of Control and Accounts of Kemerovo Region – Kuzbass held an experience-sharing seminar on auditing the measures to support the internal market and domestic producers.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Timur Makhmutov, Director of the Department for International and Regional Cooperation of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, emphasised the role of supreme audit institutions in assessing and boosting the performance of government policies aimed at creating favourable conditions for the industrial development. He stressed the relevance of the discussion between Russian and Chinese specialists on this topic given the close bilateral intergovernmental cooperation and long-term professional relations between the SAIs of Russia and China.

Mr. Jiang Haiying, Director of the International Cooperation Department of the National Audit Office of the People’s Republic of China, noted in his opening remarks that with the acceleration of the scientific and technological revolution and changes in the global economic situation, the importance of government policies to support domestic producers is growing. SAIs contribute to mitigating risks in the internal market and promoting investors’ trust.

Ms. Su Boyuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Financial System Audit of the National Audit Office of the People’s Republic of China, highlighted the financial support measures for small and micro enterprises implemented under the People’s Republic of China’s Plan for Advancing the Development of Financial Inclusion (2016–2020). These include loan rediscounting, risk compensation funds and VAT exemptions for businesses. In its audit of loans to small and micro enterprises, SAI China focused on the policy-based loans activities of commercial banks, and then the audit covered small and micro enterprises as well as financial regulators. This allowed SAI to follow all stages of state support.

Mr. Nikita Tarasov, Referent of the Department of Industry and Technological Development Audit of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, noted that Russia and China have enormous potential to intensify scientific and technological cooperation, in particular through joint advanced developments. The speaker also stressed that the Russian Federation is taking a wide range of measures to ensure technological sovereignty and the transition to innovation-driven economic growth. The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, for its part, is carrying out a number of control activities related to the analysis of measures in this area, and uses new technologies in this work.

Mr. Sergey Vakhrushev, Chairman of the Chamber of Control and Accounts of Kemerovo Region–Kuzbass, described the support measures for businesses in Kemerovo Region. The speaker noted that the assessment of the efficiency of the resources used and the monitoring of the achievement of the indicators of the state programmes at the regional level are carried out annually. Mr. Vakhrushev highlighted the measures taken to support the agroindustrial complex and the audits carried out by the Chamber of Control and Accounts in this area. Thus, during the audit of the interim results of the implementation of the programme of state support for the agro-industrial complex, the auditors of the Chamber of Control and Accounts concluded that in 2022, 1.2% of the total budget expenditure of the region were used for these purposes.

All the participants of the seminar stressed the importance of the meeting and expressed their hope to continue sharing best practices on a regular basis.