National Assembly Speaker Nebojsa Stefanovic stressed the importance of the activities of the State Audit Institution, emphasising the significance of its work for the control of public finance. Stefanovic stated that the new Public Procurement Law, as well as other legal acts which will find themselves before the National Assembly, would increase the control over budgetary spending. He deemed the cooperation with the Russian Federation successful, adding that he hoped it would continue its upward trend and stressing the need to take over Russia’s experiences in the field of control of public spending. Stefanovic said that the work of the State Audit Institution has not been stained in any way, but that the reports published in the past have met with the disapproval of the authorities at the time. He opined that the institution’s independence continues to be extremely important and said that it would always enjoy as much of the Parliament’s support as possible without it threatening its independence. The ongoing process of strengthening the Parliament’s supervisory role needs to be continued, said Stefanovic, adding that the reports of the State Audit Institution help the Parliament strengthen that role.
Sergey Stepashin thanked the National Assembly Speaker for the reception, sharing his pleasure at the success of Speaker Stefanovic’s recent visit to Moscow. Informing the host on the mechanism and work principles of the Accounts Chamber he leads, he gave a detailed description of the legislations adopted by the Duma so far as regards audits, also explaining how the role would become stronger in future and listing as example the practice in which the ministers share the results of their work, monitored by the auditors who thus control both the ministries’ and their own work, before the Duma. Stepashin holds the cooperation with the State Audit Institution, with which the Accounts Chamber had signed a Cooperation Agreement a year ago, in high regard and announced joint work on the analysis of the projects in Serbia which the Russian Federation takes part in, especially the analysis of the efficiency of the Russian Federation loans which are to be directly realised.
Stepashin also gave a very high estimation of the overall bilateral cooperation between the two countries, showing particular interest for Serbia’s participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation as observer, declaring it a principled decision in Serbia’s interest, but also stressing the fact that the close ties between the two people throughout history are constantly confirmed by the close cooperation between the parliamentary cooperation groups.
Responding the guest’s question on the current status of the proposal to take part as observer in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, Stefanovic said that the initiative had been adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee and would soon be presented before the Assembly where he expects it would receive wide support from the MPs.