On April 21, the Chairman of the Audit Chamber Mr. Atom Janjughazyan, received USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) Mission Director for Armenia John Allelo, and USAID office director, Audit Chamber –GAO (US Government Accoutability Office) joint program coordinator David Poghosyan.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the main directions of cooperation between the supreme audit institutions of the two countries, taking into account the need to bring the institutional capacity of the Audit Chamber of the RA in line with international standards and to introduce communication tools with the public and other stakeholders.

Welcoming the participants of the meeting, USAID Armenia Mission Director John Allelo congratulated the Chairman of the Audit Chamber on assuming the post, while at the same time emphasizing the experience of the Chairman in performance improving of the Audit Chamber.

In his welcoming speech, the Chairman of the Audit Chamber Mr.Atom Janjughazyan, praised the previous joint work, mentioning that it is possible not only to continue these processes, but also to continue to develop and expand the cooperation between the Audit Chamber and the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) with USAID support. The Chairman stated that the Audit Chamber is a relatively young institution, ready to absorb as much as possible experience and advice of a partner organization, which will create preconditions to avoid the same mistakes that the partner institution has made.

The following main topics were discussed during the meeting․

1․ Deepening if the cooperation and enrichment of the joint agenda of the Audit Chamber and USAID / GAO (possible missions in 2022, study visits, other areas of support),

2․ Extension of the current support program, taking into account the delays conditioned by Covid-19. Extension of the envisaged term (2020-2023) by 1 year,

3․ Reform process in the Audit Chamber (strategy implementation process)․

John Allelo, expressing his high appreciation for the results of the work done, said that they would be at a much higher level if it were not impacted by the external obstacles conditioned by COVID 19. Mr. Allelo mentioned. "We do not intend to change the Audit Chamber. "Our team tends to support the Chamber as much as possible in achieving its goals."

It was noted that despite the difficulties, the activities outlined during the previous two years of cooperation have yielded results; the third year aspires to be more fulfilling and effective.

During the meeting the parties in more detail discussed the steps of implementing a number of measures within the framework of the mission envisaged in 2022.

As a result, the parties agreed to work intensively in all possible directions, until the next visit of the US GAO team to the Republic of Armenia, to consider, if necessary, the possibilities of applying the experience of the US Supreme Audit Institution online on various issues.