The meeting was opened by Governor Goa P. S. Sreedharan Pillai, and the debate dealt with the Blue Economy, that is the audit of exploitation, preservation and recovery of the marine environment and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) – threats and opportunities.
Heads of Supreme Audit Institutions being part of the SAI20 Group, scientists, NGO representatives, experts and guests from many countries discussed trends, principles, domestic and cross-border experiences. Energy safety and energy transformation, protection of the natural environment and digitalisation of the public administration are three main topics addressed by SAIs being part of the SAI20 Group. NIK conducts over 100 audits every year, of which many deal with the said issues.
NIK President is Chair of the EUROSAI Working Group for Environmental Auditing which every year addresses environmental issues, such as: climate changes, energy transformation, air quality or recycling of plastic waste. During the debate NIK President Marian Banaś presented the results of NIK audits: barriers in the development of renewable energy sources in Poland, protection of the Polish coastline, as well as threats arising from hazardous materials lying on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Based on the auditing experience, the debate and the experience exchange, the SAI of India developed compendia of knowledge on the Blue Economy and responsible Artificial Intelligence.
The work of the SAI20 is provided to the governments of the G20 countries, as a source of independent and objective guidelines to be used at the coming G20 summits. During the SAI20 Summit, Chair of the International Organisation of the Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) Bruno Dantas underlined that SAIs independent from the executive, independent when selecting audit subjects and accessing auditees’ documentation and independent in terms of finance and human resources are a guarantee of effective and reliable audit of public finance worldwide.
NIK was invited to the meeting in India, as a special guest, due to long-term bilateral cooperation. NIK and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India have cooperated for over 20 years under the bilateral agreement. Bilateral seminars are held every year with the aim of inspiring both countries to streamline public administration via objective audits and presentation of guidelines and audit recommendations.
