Today, March 3, took place the discussions from the first day of the meeting of the Moldova-EU Subcommittee for economic and other sectors cooperation - Cluster I "Economic dialogue, public finance management, statistics, financial services, control clauses and anti-fraud" , which takes place for two days in extended format, in an online mode.
The Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (CoARM) was represented by Andrei Munteanu, Member of the CoA and Violeta Balan, Head of the External Relations and Communication Section.
The meeting was moderated by Annika Eriksgaard Melander, Head of the Neighborhood Countries Unit - Macro-Financial Assistance of the General Directorate for Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN), and Tatiana Ivanicichina, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Finance.
Topics addressed on the first day of the meeting focused on the macroeconomic situation and prospects in the EU and the Republic of Moldova, the EU and Moldovan authorities' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, public finance management reform, including internal control, external audit, public procurement and public-private partnerships, as well as the privatization of state-owned enterprises.
Andrei Munteanu presented the progress made by the supreme audit institution in the country on issues covered in the operational conclusions of the previous meeting of the Subcommittee. Mr. Munteanu spoke about the initiation and development of the first peer review peer review, initiated by the CoARM, the results of which will be available in the second trimester of the current year. The evaluation aims to formulate findings and recommendations on the selected dimensions: independence, organization and functioning, financial audit and its quality, as well as relations with stakeholders, mentioned the Member of the CoA. Also, Andrei Munteanu presented the purpose, the pillars, the objectives of the new Development Strategy of the CoA for the period 2021-2025. Another aspect invoked by Mr. Munteanu was the CoA’s initiatives to analyze legislative gaps and propose amendments, in order to increase the impact of the activity of the Court of Accounts and to improve the situation regarding the accountability of actors involved in public money management, analyzes that were used in formulating bills, examined and approved by Parliament.
We highlight that during the meeting, some public authorities noted the Court of Accounts' contribution to the progress of structural reforms, such as the Public Property Agency, which mentioned the positive impact of the CoA’s recommendations.
In the second day of the meeting, participants will address topics related to financial sector reforms, financial assistance, control and anti-corruption provisions, statistical progress, and international donor assistance.