The Swedish National Audit Office supports island nations in the Pacific region

On behalf of the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament), the Swedish NAO conducts extensive international development cooperation with Supreme Audit Institutions in developing countries. The purpose is to contribute to democratic development and enhance parliamentary control.

The Swedish NAO has – as part of this work – initiated a development project together with a number of Supreme Audit Institutions in smaller island nations in the Pacific region.

The project will be managed in collaboration with PASAI, the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions. The primary aim of the project is to strengthen the capacity of the SAIs involved regarding Human Resources and management processes. An intermediate goal is to also strengthen PASAI as an organisation in these areas.

The Swedish NAO will cooperate with the Office of the Auditor-General in New Zealand. Mr. John Ryan, Auditor General of New Zeeland, is also the Chair of PASAI.

“I am pleased to sign this MoU between PASAI and SAI Sweden as it enables us to continue working together on the PASAI Human Resources programme. This is an area that many SAIs in our region would like to improve on and we look forward to working with our Swedish colleagues to provide programmes and support on this topic,” says Auditor General John Ryan.

Supporting so many different SAIs so far away from Sweden, and with such long distances between them, places great demands on logistics and technology. In this project, the Swedish NAO intends to primarily use digital solutions for meetings, training and communication.

“Due to the pandemic, we have had to find new ways to work internationally, which has worked relatively well. The collaboration with PASAI will effectively contribute to stronger audit work in the region’s smaller nations”, says Auditor General Helena Lindberg.

The countries eligible for support through the project are: Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (nationally and the states of Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap), Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, are passive members or contributors.

The agreement runs until the end of 2022 but can be extended for two more years.