What are ECOSAI strengths and the mechanisms in which it can assist ASOSAI as a regional entity? ECO • Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), is an intergovernmental regional organization of ten countries • Established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the Member States • ECO is the successor organization of Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) which remained in existence from 1964 up to 1979 • In 1992, the Organization was expanded to include seven new members, namely: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan ECO REGION REGIONAL PROFILE • Ten countries • West Asia, South Asia, Caucuses and Central Asia • Countries are located in different but linked geographical regions • Territory: 8 million square km: twice the size of EU Population: 457,534,000 16 per cent of global population • GDP: 1,968,910 (million USD) • Contribute only 2.5 per cent to the global GDP • The intra-regional trade among the ECO member states is currently eight per cent of their cumulative external trade REGIONAL STRENGTHS • Consisting of resource rich countries in its north • Cross Roads: Russia, Middle East, South East Asia, China • Those that can provide easiest outlet to the world energy markets • ECO has the potential of becoming hub of economic activities linking Europe to Asia and also Central Asia to South Asia. REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY • The theme of the 13th ECO summit, “Connectivity for Regional Prosperity” has made the CPEC very relevant • China, OIC, and the UN attended the summit as observers • China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and One Belt One Road as major tools to materialize an increased regional cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, infrastructure, energy, etc. • China is working to connect Kashgar to Kazakhstan via Kyrgystan. • A land/rail route from Kashgar to Kirgizia and from further to Almaty is not the matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ Challenges ECO Countries • Terrorism • Drug-trafficking • Extremism • Economic development • Trade • Water Scarcity • Environment • HDI ECO VISION 2025 • The 2017 ECO summit adopted the ECO Vision 2025 which underscores sustainability, integration, and conducive environment for promoting cooperation in the areas of trade, transport, connectivity, energy, tourism, economic growth, economic productivity, social welfare, and environment • Calls for the development of transport and communication infrastructure, facilitation of trade and investment, promotion of connectivity with other regions, effective use of energy resources and undertaking measures for making the ECO effective and efficient • Resolve to work on the UN General Assembly’s resolution on water, i.e. “International Decade of Action 2018-2028: Water for Sustainable Development” ECOSAI STRENGTHS A CASE FOR ECOSAI • ASOSAI is the third largest group of SAIs (43) with great linguistic, cultural, economic and politico-administrative diversity. • AFROSAI, the largest group of SAIs, akin to ASOSAI in terms of diversity, recognizes 3 sub- groups of its members • ECOSAI region has institutional, organizational and managerial capacity to support ASOSAI objectives DIVERSITY OF SAI MODELS Court of Accounts judicial and Turkey/TRNC model administrative authority and is independent of the legislative and executive branches. Westminster model the office of the Pakistan, Afghanistan auditor general is an independent body that reports to parliament Chamber of Accounts Supervisory body of Central Asian model national legislature Countries/Trans Caspian Organizational Capacity • Capacity for organizing and hosting international events • 6 Assembly sessions in Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Turkey • 22 GBM in Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, TRNC, Tajikistan, Turkey • Capacity to pool in resources Common Concerns • Governance • Anti-Corruption • Internal control environment • Public financial management • SDGs implementation • Debt • Climate change Capacity Building Capacity • 17 Training Committee Meetings • Training Plans • Training material development • 14 training courses for capacity building of auditors • Performance auditing, internal controls, risk-based auditing, ISSAIs, environmental auditing, audit efficiency , essential skills in auditing, audit of privatization etc. • Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Kazakhstan have developed institutional expertise in developing, organizing and hosting training activities Knowledge Creation Capacity • 20 issues of ECOSAI journal since 2000 • Creation/dissemination of knowledge • ISSAI implementation • Environment auditing Communication • All ECOSAI members have developed adequate staff proficiency in English • ECOSAI Circular is an English language journal • Most of the training activities adopt English as medium of instruction • ECOSAI members with their diverse bi-lingual skills (English-Russian/-Persian-English/Turkish- English) have capacity for largest possible interaction within INTOSAI community BI-LATERAL COOPERATION • ECOSAI promotes bi-lateral cooperation among Member SAIs • SAI Pakistan has signed MOUs for bilateral cooperation with SAIs of Iran (2016) and Turkey (2016) Tajikistan (2018) • SAI Iran has signed similar MOUs with SAIs of Tajikistan and Turkey • Pakistan-Turkey have been cooperating in peer review, performance auditing, joint/cooperative audit ECOSAI SECRETARIAT • SAI Pakistan is the permanent Secretary General of ECOSAI • Secretariat has dedicated staff for conducting official business (secretarial, coordination, training, finance, accounts) • Dynamic website • ECOSAI Circular • ECOSAI Archive ECOSAI-ASOSAI • ECOSAI helps ASOSAI – achieve its objectives and purposes within the region- 10 of 7 ASOSAI members are part of ECOSAI – bring the 3 SAIs to its fold – building institutional capacity of ECOSAI members for playing a larger role within ASOSAI – by implementing ISSAIs ECOSAI-ASOSAI (2) – promote bilingualism in ECOSAI region enabling ECOSAI members to interact with larger INTOSAI community • Bring issues of public auditing in ECOSAI region to ASOSAI’s notice THANKS.