Conference – Mini AA Homologues Group Meeting

As part of the Twinning light project "Improving the legislative framework and strengthening the administrative capacity of the Audit Authority of Montenegro", a conference with plenary parts and separate workshops was held on May 12, 2023 in the Ramada Hotel. The conference was attended by representatives of the member states - Croatia, Hungary, Ireland and Sweden, involved in the project, as well as representatives of the IPA countries: North Macedonia, Albania, Turkey and Serbia and participants in the project from the Audit Authority of Montenegro. The conference was held in the form of a meeting of the Mini AA Homologues group. Although this is a practice carried out by member countries, this is the first time that Montenegro, as an IPA country, organizes this type of meeting.

The conference was an opportunity to exchange experiences and work practices between representatives of member states and representatives of the IPA countries of the IPA.

As a whole, the event contributed to the general goal of the project - improving the legislative framework and strengthening the administrative capacity of the Audit Authority of Montenegro, then to the specific goal and purpose of the project - ensuring the effective closure of the program period 2014-2020 (IPA II) and preparing Montenegro for program management and project control financed under IPA III/ESIF.

Furthermore, the aim of the conference was to establish open and solid communication and cooperation between numerous national audit bodies of member states and IPA audit bodies. An additional value is the stronger networking and positioning of the Montenegrin audit authority in the international environment, so that AA can be recognizable and unique national audit body, ready to provide assistance and advice to other audit bodies as well.

The opening remarks were given by the auditor general of the Audit Authority of Montenegro, Ksenija Barjaktarović, as the leader of the beneficiary country team, and the director of the Agency for the Audit of the European Union Program Implementation System, Neven Šprlje, as the leader of the member state team. The opening speech was followed by a panel discussion where new requirements and challenges in the perspective of IPA III, differences between IPA II and IPA III, and other topics were discussed.

After the panel discussion, the participants were divided into three workshops. The topics of the workshops were: "Continuous improvement of audit methodology in order to meet new requirements and challenges", "Preparation for closing - key challenges" and "Audit approach to specific topics".