Netherlands Court of Audit visits the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.

The focus of the visit was on two overarching themes:

• The first theme regards getting to know the region to obtain a general picture of the situation in the (islands) countries;
• The second theme was more specific and focused on the functioning of the respective Supreme Audit Institutions and the environment in which they operate.

As part of the introductory visit, the Netherlands Court of Audit visited Aruba on February 14. The delegation consisted of the Acting President, Mr. Ewout Irrgang, accompanied by Mr. Burhan Gün, Research Director for the Interior and Kingdom Relations, and Ms. Ina Hopman, Senior Advisor for the International Affairs sector.

For the General Audit Office of Aruba, in addition to a personal acquaintance with the (acting) President of the General Audit Office of the Netherlands and his delegation, the visit offered the opportunity to discuss in broad terms bilateral cooperation between both Audit Offices. Based partly on self-assessment results and the agreements included in the Aruba Land Package regarding the strengthening of the Court of Audit position within the Financial Management of the Country, the Aruba General Audit Office sought possible support from the Netherlands General Audit Office.

In that regard, an exploratory mission took place at the official level in June 2022, followed by a plan of approach preparation for further cooperation to finalize in the coming period. In that context, it was desirable to hold several discussions with the most relevant stakeholders. These were H.E. the Governor, the President and chairman of each political group of the Parliament, the Prime Minister, and the Advisory Council.