1991 was yet another significant year for the fraternity of ASOSAI as the 5th Assembly and 4th International Seminar held at Beijing during May 1991 gave them an opportunity to meet each other, interact, discuss fruitfully the topics of the seminar and adopt the Beijing Declaration. A report on the Beijing Assembly and Seminar is also incorporated in this issue.
At the Beijing Assembly, the chairmanship of ASOSAI was formally handed over by Indonesia to China. Mr.Lu Peijian, Auditor General of the People's Republic of China has become the Chairman of ASOSAI.
Born in 1928 in Jiangsu province of central China, Mr.Lu Peijian joined the Communist Party of China and its Red Army in 1944 when the final decisive struggle against the Kuomintang government had just started. He served as an Accountant in a supply department of the revolutionary forces. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 he joined the Ministry of Finance and worked his way up in that organisation to become Vice-Minister of Finance during the period 1978-82. Thereafter, he was made the President of the People's Bank of China, the central bank of the country. He took over as the Auditor General in 1985 and is heading the Audit Administration of China which had been created in 1983. He is a member of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.
Mr.Kiyoshi Nakamura, President, Board of Audit, Japan was elected as the Secretary General of ASOSAI in place of Tan Sri Ishak bin Tadin, Auditor General of Malaysia. The Audit Profile included in this issue is that of SAI, Japan.
As the past Secretary General, Tan Sri Ishak and his predecessor heads of the Malaysian SAI have done a great deal to shape the ASOSAI into a dynamic and an extremely useful organisation. We congratulate them on the successful completion of a long and eventful tenure.
The President, Board of Audit, Japan has a long and distinguished record of contribution to the cause of the ASOSAI and has provided the leadership to it for a term. The new role that Mr. Nakamura has now assumed will greatly enhance that contribution.
The 16th and the 17th meetings of the Governing Board of ASOSAI were held in Beijing in May 1991. The Board reviewed the past activities, and the audited statements of accounts, finalised the budget for the years 1991-93 and discussed the future training and other programmes.
Sri Lanka has been inducted as a member of the Governing Board in place of Malaysia. We welcome the new member, Mr.W.Gamini Epa, Auditor General of Sri Lank.
The Supreme Audit Institutions of Malaysia and Thailand have been elected as members of the Audit Committe of ASOSAI for the three year period 1991-93.
The Second ASOSAI Research Project on 'Financial Accountability and Management in Government' has been undertaken by the Deputy Auditors General of the SAIs of India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Dr.D.J. Hardman, Head of the Department of Financial Accounting and Auditing, University of Technology, Broadway, Australia has been engaged as the adviser and technical consultant to the research team. The work is in progress.
In the Beijing Assembly, it was unanimously agreed that India would host the 6th Assembly and the 5th International Seminar of ASOSAI in 1994. SAI, India has already begun the ground work for it. The themes and sub-themes of the International Seminar will be decided when the Governing Board meets in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during April 1992.