Tbilisi: The Deputy Finance Minister of Georgia, Mikheil Dundua, opened an international conference on the topic: Managerial Accountability in Public Service – Change of Mindset. The opening event took place at the Hotel Sheraton Metekhi Palace and was organized by the State Internal Control Department of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia (Harmonization Center) and the National Agency for Financial Management of Sweden (ESV).
The Swedish Ambassador of Emergency and Plenipotentiary to Georgia, Ulrik Tidestrom, addressed the attendees with a welcoming speech.
The presentation was made by the Head of the State Internal Control Department of the Ministry of Finance, Giuli Chkuaseli; First Deputy Minister of Environment and Agriculture, Giorgi Khanishvili; Deputy Director of the National Agency for Financial Management of Sweden, Peter Kvist and OECD/SIGMA Representative Alister Sworbrick and invited guests.
The meeting was attended by the six pilots Ministry of Financial Management and Control System Coordinators-Deputy Ministers and Specialists in Public Service-Risk Officers who play a key role in the completion of the financial management and control system, and the meeting was also attended by the mayors of municipalities.
The event was dedicated to Georgia – one of the most important components of public finance management – financial management and control reform.
The development of the internal control system in the public sector is, according to that, one of the priorities of the Georgian Government of Finance.
The structure of Georgia’s state internal financial control system fully corresponds to the model developed by the European Commission for EU member and candidate countries and consists of three elements:
Management and Governance Systems – Financial Management and Control System;
Independent and objective credible activity for evaluation of systems – internal audit;
Financial Management and Control System and Internal Audit Harmonization and Coordination Unit – Centre for Harmonization.
It is noteworthy that since 2020, with the support of the Swedish Embassy and the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation (SIDA), cooperation between the Harmonization Center and Swedish colleagues has begun in the direction of financial management and control system development. Also, work is underway intensively with the involvement of the Swedish National Financial Management Agency (ESV) and Georgian colleagues.
