Video Message
Mr. Englman, State Comptroller of Israel and President of EUROSAI,
Members of the EUROSAI Governing Board,
It is an honor to address this annual meeting of the EUROSAI Governing Board. Your dedication, and that of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) worldwide, is fundamental to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals.
We navigate a turbulent era today, marked by a confluence of shocks, crises and challenges – with economic distress, social tensions and declining trust in public institutions. These are compounded by increasing threats to justice, accountability, and human rights. The 2024 SDG Report, published by the UN DESA reveals that only 17 per cent of SDGs are on track for achievement by 2030. With only five years remaining, a significant escalation in collective action is imperative to steer the SDGs back on course.
In this critical juncture, your role is indispensable. Supreme Audit Institutions across the world provide important, independent oversight of national SDG implementation. Your audits scrutinize governmental preparedness to implement the SDGs, evaluate public programmes linked to the SDGs, and, increasingly, assess governmental performance on specific SDG goals and targets. You often produce information that would otherwise remain obscured, empowering governments and fostering informed public engagement in monitoring SDG progress.
Supreme Audit Institutions are pivotal contributors to national SDG follow-up and review mechanisms, often collaborating with National Statistical Offices and entities coordinating SDG implementation.
Many of you have enriched the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) of SDG implementation presented by Member States at the United Nations.
Increasingly, your coordinated initiatives also provide original insights at the regional and international levels, on pressing development issues like climate change.
Supreme audit institutions in EUROSAI have demonstrated leadership in all these endeavors, pioneering SDG auditing methodologies, stimulating regional dialogues, and building SAIs capacity in critical areas such as climate change, technology, social programmes, and public financial management.
I urge all stakeholders to more effectively leverage the wealth of information SAIs produce on SDG implementation. This is crucial to inform national policymaking, aligning development plans and budgets with strategic policy objectives, and enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of national programmes and public institutions.
In closing, allow me to reaffirm the profound importance of your work on the SDGs. The methodologies, tools and capacities that SAIs have cultivated for auditing SDGs implementation will retain their full relevance well beyond 2030. Evaluating governmental performance in pursuit of national development objectives will remain a top priority.
Let us unite our efforts to amplify the support SAIs provide to Governments, parliaments, civil society, and citizens in transforming the SDGs into a tangible reality for all.
Thank you.