25 - 30 May 2014

Fiscal Transparency and Accountability

Moscow, Russian Federation

The CROSS-COP Plenary Meeting brought together around 200 participants including PEMPAL network members from 18 countries; representatives of key donors; and speakers from different international and national organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT), International Budget Partnership (IBP) and representatives from the Governments of Russian Federation, Turkey, South Africa, Mexico, as well as the PEMPAL Secretariat. Date: May 25-30, 2014
Location: Moscow, Russian Federation

 

 

 

CROSS-COP Plenary Meeting (May 27-29, 2014)

The main focus of the CROSS-COP plenary meeting on May 27-29, 2014, was Fiscal Transparency and Accountability.  The objectives of the meeting were to a) share information about the concepts and tools of fiscal transparency and accountability and how these can be applied (from a central finance agency perspective) and b) to form a long term view of how the topic can be involved in the future work of PEMPAL Communities of Practice (COPs). More detailed agenda can be found here.

The three-day meeting was a combination of group work and plenary sessions with presentations from more than 20 international speakers. The formal opening on the first day was made by the representatives of the hosting country, the World Bank and the PEMPAL Secretariat, which was accompanied with official welcome statements of Anton Siluanov, the Minister of Finance of Russian Federation, Mihail Abyzov, Minister of Open Government of Russian Federation and Michal Rutkowski, World Bank Country Director for Russia.

The first day of the meeting started with presentations on PEMPAL progress and results delivered by Elena Nikulina, PEMPAL Task Team Leader, and COP’s chairs - Gelardina Prodani (BCOP), Angela Voronin (TCOP) and Edit Nemeth (IACOP deputy chair). Arman Vatyan and Diana Grosu Axenti, the resource team of Internal Audit Community of Practice, also presented the feedback collection mechanism that was to be implemented during the meeting to facilitate community ownership and input from members. Thereafter, the international speakers delivered the sessions devoted to key concepts and transparency tools, followed after by eight group work sessions to discuss questions related to budget and treasury portals as well as transparency frameworks. The reports of group work discussions can be found here.

The focus of the second day turned to identify key tools for facilitation of fiscal transparency and accountability and to share information on how they have been used by PEMPAL and other countries. After morning plenary sessions the meeting was again broken into group work sessions to identify good practices in context of plans and progress of country members. The reports of group work discussions are presented here.

The plenary sessions of the third day were devoted to exchange of information on how tools such as citizen guides to budget and participating in the open budget surveys can facilitate transparency and accountability. Good practices from countries within and outside the PEMPAL region were showcased, including those from the Russian Federation, Turkey, Mexico and South Africa.

All presentations and background documents for the CROSS COP plenary meeting can be accessed here. The event report, which summarizes the meeting in detail, can be accessed here.

 

COPs pre-meetings (May 25-26, 2014)

Prior to the CROSS COP plenary meeting each COP delivered their pre-meetings on May 25-26, 2014, addressing specific issues related to each COP:

BCOP stared its pre-meetings first with a BCOP Executive Committee meeting and afterwards continued with a meeting of the Public Sector Wage Bill Management working group. The objectives of the meeting were to review trends in public sector pay and employment, learn from the findings of the World Bank study on public sector wage bill management and discuss public sector pay reforms in selected participating countries. BCOP presentations and background documents can be found here.

AGENDA     LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

After meeting in September 2013 in St. Petersburg, IACOP continued the work of its working group on RIFIX (relationship of internal audit with financial inspection and external audit) by delivering a two day workshop, as well as holding its Executive Committee meeting. The objective of the IACOP RIFIX meeting was to study the international good practice for the role, function, relationship and cooperation of Internal Audit, Financial Inspection and SAI, and provide possible solutions to challenges faced by countries. IACOP presentations can be found here.

AGENDA     LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

TCOP held its plenary meeting where experiences of the Federal Treasury of Russia in modernizing the treasury system were presented. The main objective of the meeting was to offer to the TCOP members an opportunity to get familiar with the Russian treasury experience in several PFM areas, including management of Single Treasury Account, delimitation of roles and responsibilities between the treasury and budget institutions in the process of budget execution, and the role of treasury in financial reporting.  Prior to the plenary meeting the Executive Committee members met. TCOP presentations can be found here.

AGENDA     LIST OF PARTICIPANTS     REPORT

 

Steering Committee Meeting (May 30, 2014)

Members of the Steering Committee, the governing body of the PEMPAL network, gathered for a  face-to-face meeting on May 30. This included the representatives of COP leadership and donor organizations who discussed important issues related to the implementation of the PEMPAL’s objectives and mission. Minutes can be accessed here.

 

Wiki: CROSS-COP (for registered members)

Language: The meeting was conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation into Russian and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian.
 
Further information: please contact PEMPAL Secretariat