On July 27-28, 2023 Saint Petersburg hosted the Second Russia – Africa Summit and Economic and Humanitarian Forum.

In the framework of the Forum, SAI Russia held a number of events involving SAIs of 15 African states and 20 representatives of the regional audit institutions (RAIs) of the Russian Federation.

On July 27, 2023 the ExpoForum hosted SAI Russia’s panel session entitled “State in a Changing Environment: What Is the Future for External Audit?”.

Mr. Alexey Komissarov, Rector of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (RANEPA), Director General of Russia – Land of Opportunities, moderated the session.

The speakers of the session included:

• Ms. Galina Izotova, Acting Chair of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation;
• Mr. Nikolay Zhuravlev, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council;
• Mr. Alexander Babakov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma;
• Mr. Alexey Lavrov, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation;
• Mr. Latin Poda, First President of the Court of Accounts of Burkina Faso;
• Mr. Junias Etuna Kandjeke, Auditor General of the Republic of Namibia;
• Ms. Ibrahim Mahamat Itno Zara, President of the Chamber of Accounts at the Supreme Court of the Republic of Chad.

Panel session participants deliberated on the contribution of supreme audit institutions to higher performance of state bodies in the context of ensuring national sovereignty, on SAIs’ efforts to promote openness, transparency, and accountability of public administration, as well as on modern digital technologies and new approaches to human resources that auditors of the future shall use.

On July 28, the Accounts Chamber hosted a round table to share experiences with African SAIs as part of the Forum’s program.

Session I of the roundtable dealt with “Sustainable Development Audit: Challenges and Opportunities”. Mr. Dmitry Zaitsev, Auditor, Member of the Board of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, chaired the Session and delivered a speech.

Presentations were also made by:

• Mr. Amadu Tidjane Baldé, President of the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau;
• Mr. Alhassane Thierno Baro, President of the Chamber of the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Senegal;
• Mr. Abdelaziz Koulouh, Secretary General of the Court of Auditors of the Kingdom of Morocco;
• Ms. Yulia Kokareva, Chair of the Chamber of Control and Accounts of Sevastopol;
• Mr. Alexander Nosov, Chairman of the Chamber of Control and Accounts of the Volgograd Region.

Russian and foreign participants discussed methodology and practice of the audit of the SDG implementation and ESG audit as well as the potential contribution of the SAIs and RAIs to food security and sustainable agriculture.

Mr. Vyacheslav Vitushkin, Head of Office of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, moderated the Session II “Capacity Building of Supreme and Regional Audit Institutions from the perspective of Countering Corruption”.

Speakers of the session were:

• Ms. Svetlana Orlova, Auditor, Member of the Board of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation;
• Mr. Alexander Belskiy, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg;
• Mr. Mikhail Romanov, the First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for the Control of the State Duma of the Russian Federation;
• Mr. Yuriy Truntsevskiy, Head of Anti-Corruption Methodology Division of the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation;
• Mr. René Aboghe Ella, First President of the Court of Accounts of the Gabonese Republic;
• Mr. Hesham Badawy, President of the Accountability State Authority of the Arab Republic of Egypt;
• Mr. Fausto de Carvalho Simões, Judge Counsellor of the Court of Accounts of Angola;
• Mr. Christian Mudina Leboyer, President of the Chamber of the Court of Accounts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
• Mr. Aleksei Loshkin, the Chairman of the Chamber of Control and Accounts of Chelyabinsk Region.

The discussion of Session II focused on the contribution of SAIs and RAIs to the anti-corruption activities of the state, on counter-corruption measures in the public audit institutions themselves and on developing personal and professional capacities of the SAIs’ employees.

At the Economic and Humanitarian Forum, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation welcomed heads and representatives of SAIs of 15 states of Africa, namely Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Republic of Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Namibia and Senegal.

Russian Federation was represented not only by the Accounts Chamber, but also by RAIs of 19 constituent entities of the Russian Federation (Republic of Bashkortostan, Chuvashia and Udmurtia Republics, Kamchatka, Primorsky and Stavropol Territories, Vladimir, Vologda, Volgograd, Voronezh, Leningrad, Rostov, Samara, Tver, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk regions, the cities of Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Sevastopol).