On the sidelines of the 14th assembly of the ASOSAI in Hanoi, Malaysia Auditor General and Chair of ASOSAI 2015-18 Dr Madinah Binti Mohamad talked to Viet Nam News, an English language newspaper of VNA, about cooperation activities between member countries’ audit agencies and the importance of environmental audit.
Can you tell us about the cooperation programmes between ASOSAI and developing countries in Asia, including Vietnam, especially in terms of capacity building?
In term of the cooperation programmes, ASOSAI has a number of activities with other institutions.
ASOSAI has signed a Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with other regional groups such as EUROSAI and AFROSAI in order to create regional meetings and mutual agreements emphasising several significant matters such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), IT Audit and Environment Audit. We conduct parallel research to provide insights and foresights of SDGs through the exchange of knowledge, experience, and best practice. Particular attention will be given on the readiness of national system and data aspect as case studies.
Country paper presented in ASOSAI WGEA (Working Group on Environment Auditing) and INTOSAI (International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions) WGEA as well as in front of Working Committee Groups. ASOSAI has also contributed several articles in INTOSAI News Brief Greenlines INTOSAI on the parallel audits topics.
ASOSAI has also paid attention to capacity building, for example, ASOSAI training centres in Malaysia, China and India have conducted various Knowledge Sharing sessions, training programmes in blended training method whereby participants will conduct the online course and attend the face to face meeting in many ASOSAI country members.
After the successful term as the chair of ASOSAI, could you share with us your experience in facilitating cooperation between 46 SAI members?
We focused on strategic and effective communication developed among SAI members through online meetings then the important and significant matters will be concluded in the conventional meeting among ASOSAI members.
Through Working Groups such as ASOSAI Working Group in Environmental Audit (WGEA), we could find the best solutions for the auditing environmental issues and challenges faced by ASOSAI Members.
We also have strengthened knowledge through seminars, symposiums, and workshops to increase the competency and skills among the auditors.
We conducted research among our members resulting in recommendations for corrective actions and improvements.
The sharing of lessons learnt from other SAIs was bolstered in order to improve current auditing practices.
The Key Performance Index (KPI) set in the Strategic Plan of ASOSAI is reviewed in order to measure the performance, implementation, and monitoring.
Environment has been a concern in previous terms of ASOSAI. In your opinion, what are the issues ASOSAI should focus in the coming term, chaired by the Vietnam State Audit?
It is observed that many government programmes and activities are carried out on a large scale and involved massive resources. However, these programmes and activities did not take into consideration the environmental consequences or the impacts on the environment are not properly understood and accounted for. Environmental audits highlight the shortcomings and the recommendations help to improve the performance of the Government ministries and departments. For example, though environmental auditing in Malaysia for the past 10 years it is still in the state of development.
ASOSAI has incorporated the importance of auditing and tracking the implementation of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Strategic Plan 2016-2021.
Several measures need to be undertaken in order to enhance the quality of environmental audit.
The nature and scope of audit have to be redefined in line with SDGs, while the terms of reference for auditing need to be comprehensive with new approaches and techniques.
There should be an integrated approach to environmental auditing that takes into account all social, economic and environmental aspects for sustainable development.
There needs to be an appropriate mix of auditors with technical skills in view of emerging issues to audit such biodiversity, climate change, and environmental hazards.
Members should cooperate with other SAIs on environmental management, environmental accounting, and environmental performance management, as well as make full use of information technology to facilitate environmental audit.
From a property-market perspective, Do Thi Thu Giang, National Director of Valuation and Advisory at Savills Vietnam, said the orientations under Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW could make the market more transparent and efficient, with property values increasingly tied to actual development and use potential.
Chinese carmakers are putting new pressure on prices and technology while testing Vietnam’s ability to retain more value.
Science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and AI must be translated into higher productivity rather than pursued as ends in themselves. At the same time, people should be placed at the centre of development, not merely viewed as a resource but as the ultimate objective of development policies.
US retail giant Target is seeking Vietnamese suppliers of household goods, home textiles, children’s products, personal care and beauty products, with a focus on companies capable of manufacturing and developing products that meet requirements on quality, design and supply chain management.
The annual event, which will be held on August 18-19, 2026, at the ICE International Exhibition Centre, 91 Tran Hung Dao Street, Hanoi, is expected to attract around 324 delegates and feature 21 booths representing credit institutions, payment intermediary service providers, and technology companies.
Vietnam should give priority to areas where it has potential to build strengths, particularly manufacturing and packaging.
Vietnam has built a solid semiconductor and electronics industry before joining ITSI, attracting major US semiconductor companies. Intel Products Vietnam is one of Intel's largest assembly and testing facilities worldwide, while chip design companies such as Synopsys, Cadence, Marvell and Qualcomm have established engineering and research centres in the Southeast Asian country.
According to the Ministry of Construction, Vietnam has around 2,500 old apartment blocks and collective housing complexes built before 1994, covering about 3 million square metres of floor space, mainly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Of these, around 196 have been classified as severely deteriorated and unsafe.
Durian exports reached nearly 1.1 billion USD in the first six months of 2026, up 32% year-on-year. The industry's strongest export season, however, is still ahead.
The country's agro-forestry-aquatic product exports reached nearly 42.8 billion USD in the January–July period, up 7.5% year-on-year and equivalent to almost 60% of the annual target of 74 billion USD.
During the first seven months of 2026, Vietnam attracted more than 38 billion USD in registered FDI, up nearly 58% year-on-year. More importantly, the increase was driven by large-scale, high-tech projects rather than a surge in the number of new investments, signalling a significant improvement in the quality of capital inflows.
Manufacturing and engineering posted the strongest recruitment growth, with hiring demand surging 70% year-on-year, driven by production expansion, supply chain restructuring and sustained investment inflows in high-tech manufacturing.
Vietnam's total import-export turnover reached 659.58 billion USD in the first seven months of 2026, up 28.1% year-on-year.
The projects in Phu Quoc have been implemented under tight deadlines. Since May 2025, the Prime Minister has directed preparations for APEC 2027, including accelerated infrastructure development on the special zone. An Giang province and investors have subsequently launched a number of major projects involving complex technical requirements and demanding construction schedules.
The NSO also reported that realised FDI reached an estimated 15.2 billion USD during the January-July period, an increase of 11.8% from a year earlier and the highest seven-month disbursement recorded over the past five years.
Household deposits at banks reached a new high of 10.8 quadrillion VND (414 billion USD) at the end of May, up more than 108 trillion VND from April and increasing by 4.76% from the beginning of the year, equivalent to nearly 492 trillion VND.
The plan seeks to develop a balanced and modern financial market that is closely integrated with regional and global markets, strengthens the mobilisation and allocation of domestic and foreign capital, and enhances the market’s role as a key provider of medium- and long-term capital for the economy and as a major driver of sustained high economic growth.
Under the province's master plan for 2021–2030 with a vision to 2050, An Giang will prioritise investment in five strategic sectors: strategic infrastructure; processing industries and clean energy; trade, services, logistics and border-gate economy; high-quality tourism; and high-tech agriculture, ecological development and the circular economy.
According to the VCCI, these measures are not only necessary for managing potential risks arising from US trade actions but also crucial to enhancing competitiveness and meeting growing international expectations on compliance, product origin, quality and transparency.
Businesses say the biggest obstacle to reducing emissions and transforming production models remains the lack of financial resources needed to upgrade technologies, modernise production lines and build governance systems that comply with global sustainability standards.