Jordan, Qatar seek to exchange expertise in auditing practices

AMMAN — The government is ready to enhance cooperation opportunities between Jordan and Qatar, Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said, stressing the importance of benefitting from the joint expertise of monitoring agencies in both countries. 

Meeting with the President of the Qatari State Audit Bureau Sheikh Bandar bin Mohamed bin Saud Al Thani, Razzaz referred to the government’s keenness to boost the autonomy of the Audit Bureau to enhance its role in monitoring and maintaining public money, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During the meeting, attended by Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs Sami Daoud and Audit Bureau President Abed Kharabsheh, the premier said that the government is also keen to expand the authorities of the bureau to include administrative monitoring. 

Sheikh Bandar said both countries’ bureaus have made great strides in the fields of cooperation, training and exchanging knowledge, and voiced the aspiration to sign a memorandum of understating to further enhance cooperation in performance assessment, risk management and data analysis. 

Daoud said the culture of performance assessment has been enhanced at several institutions and departments that refer to the Audit Bureau to rectify violations, according to Petra.

Kharabsheh stated the bureau wants to boost cooperation and partnership with monitoring authorities in Arab countries to set a clear strategy to refine the work of these agencies and empower them to better tackle challenges. 

In a separate meeting, Senate President Faisal Fayez and Sheikh Bandar stressed the “deep-rooted” relations between Amman and Doha and ways to develop them on all levels, especially in the economic and investment fields. 

Fayez highlighted the important role of audit bureaus in preserving public money, referring to the Jordanian-Qatari cooperation in this field through exchanging expertise and adopting the best international practices, according to Petra.

Sheikh Bandar said his visit to the Kingdom is part of enhancing cooperation and benefitting from the Audit Bureau’s expertise. 

Also on Monday, Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh met with Sheikh Bandar and highlighted the importance of the independence of audit bureaus to keep them free of constraints.