ParlAmericas to Host Follow-up Workshop on Parliamentary Budget Oversight in the Caribbean

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad & Tobago - Feb. 3, 2014 - PRLog -- ParlAmericas – a forum for parliamentarians in the hemisphere – is hosting a capacity-building workshop, Strengthening Parliamentary Budget Oversight in the Caribbean: Phase 2,to provide a space for parliamentarians and Auditors General to increase their regional knowledge and share best practices.

The two-day event will take place February 5-6, 2014, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. ParlAmericas welcomes the media to attend the opening ceremony on Wednesday, February 5 from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. (GMT-4) at the hotel Hilton Trinidad & Conference Centre, Lady Young Road, Port of Spain.

Parliamentarians representing the national legislatures of 12 countries in the Caribbean (The Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago) will gather to enhance their practical skills and knowledge related to auditing within the Westminster System. The Auditors General from several Caribbeans countries will also be in attendance. Participants will benefit from the presentations and guidance of experts in the subject during panels and various strategizing sessions.

The overall objectives of the workshop are to build on the discussions about parliamentary budget oversight mechanisms and other key issues of concern to Public Accounts Committees (PACs) that took place during a previous workshop (Phase 1) in Antigua in 2012.

The panels sessions and breakout groups will consider the budgetary cycle, existing practices and challenges, Supreme Audit Institution (SAI)-Parliament cooperation, audit products, and SAI-PAC relations. To conclude the workshop, participants will develop recommendations to strengthen the estimates process and PACs in the Caribbean.

The workshop agenda is available at: http://www.parlamericas.org/en/what-we-do/workshops/2014.aspx

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ParlAmericas is an independent network composed of national legislatures of 35 states from North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean. Members of ParlAmericas are committed to developing inter-parliamentary dialogue on relevant hemispheric issues. They do so at capacity-building workshops and other events closely aligned with issues of current hemispheric importance.