Oviir and Stepashin sign common documents on parallel audits

Toomas Mattson | 3/29/2012 | 12:00 AM

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IVANGOROD-TALLINN, 29 March 2012 - On 29 March 2012 in Ivangorod, Estonian Auditor General Mihkel Oviir and Chairman of the Russian Accounts Chamber Sergey Stepashin signed on 29 March 2012 in Ivangorod the documents on the common part of the results of the two parallel audits conducted by the supreme audit bodies of the two countries.

One of the documents describes activities of the bodies that ensure cross-border flows of goods and means of transport, another document – activities of environmental protection of Lake Peipus and sparing usage of transboundary water bodies. Performance of these audits was agreed on during the visit of the Chairman of the Russian Accounts Chamber to Estonia in 2010. This is the first such common project implemented by the supreme audit bodies of Estonia and Russia.

At the joint meeting of the Collegium of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and the leadership of the National Audit Office of the Republic of Estonia in the local administration building in Ivangorod the summary of the Estonian audit results was presented by Tarmo Olgo, Head of the Performance Audit Department of the National Audit Office. The focal point of the discussion was the issue of the need to build a new bridge in Narva.

Leaders of the audit bodies of both countries, Mihkel Oviir and Sergey Stepashin, stressed the need for continuation of the rational and mutually beneficial cooperation and agreed to conduct a follow-up audit regarding Lake Peipus in 2015.

Representatives of the Estonian ministries of the environment and the interior, the Tax and Customs Board, the Police and Border Guard Board and other bodies involved in auditing activities and reporting, who discussed various aspects of developing the cooperation between the corresponding bodies with their colleagues from the Russian Federation, were Present at the joint meeting of the Collegium of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and the leadership of the National Audit Office of the Republic of Estonia in Ivangorod were representatives of the Estonian ministries of the environment and internal affairs, the Tax and Customs Board, the Police and Border Guard Board and other bodies involved in auduting activities and reporting, who discussed with their colleagues from the Russian Federation various aspects of developing the cooperation between the corresponding bodies.

The meeting was also attended by Yuri Merzlyakov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Estonia, Tiina Maiberg, Estonian Consul General to St. Petersburg, and Erkki Koort, Deputy Secretary-General for Internal Security of the Ministry of the Interior, who also spoke to the meeting participants. Egon Veermäe, Deputy Director-General of the Tax and Customs Board, and Harry Liiv, Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministry of the Environment, also discussed cooperation issues. Among other attendees of the joint meeting were Rando Kruusmaa, Deputy Head of the Migration and Border Guard Policy Department of the Ministry of the Interior responsible for border guard matters, Toivo Sander, Deputy Director of the Development Bureau and the Border Guard Department of the Police and Border Guard Board, and Aimar Köss, Director of the Border Guard Bureau of the Eastern Prefecture of the Police and Border Guard Board.

The Russian participants, in addition to the leadership of the Accounts Chamber, included Alexander Kuznetsov, Vice-Governor of the Leningrad Region, Dmitry Bezdelov, Head of the Rosgranitsa Federal Agency for the Development of the State Border Infrastructure, Anatoli Zabrodin, Head of the Border Guard Administration of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, and Marina Seliverstova, Head of the Federal Agency for Water Resources, who together with Rita Annus, Secretary-General of the Estonian Ministry of the Environment, co-chair the Estonian-Russian Joint Committee on Transboundary Water Bodies. Among the speakers at the meeting was Nazip Galikeev, Chief of the Russian North-West Customs Directorate.

In the afternoon Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Sergey Stepashin with the accompanying delegation of representatives of Russian governmental agencies arrived in Narva and became familiarised with the functioning of the local border and customs checkpoint. Prior to paying this visit to Estonia, the Russian side showed to the Estonian National Audit Office delegation and representatives of Estonian governmental agencies the work of the border and customs checkpoint in Ivangorod.

Members of the Estonian and Russian delegations continued topical opinion exchanges during the visit to Estonia.

Furthermore, Sergey Stepashin, who is also Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, paid a visit to the Pühtitsa Dormition Convent in Kuremäe and met with Mother Superior Filareta.
The Russian delegation left Estonia on 30 March 2012.

Toomas Mattson
Head of Communication Service
640 0777
513 4900
[email protected]
 

  • Posted: 3/29/2012 12:00 AM
  • Last Update: 11/10/2015 5:36 PM
  • Last Review: 11/10/2015 5:36 PM

Oviir and Stepashin sign common documents on parallel audits

National Audit Office of Estonia

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