SANTO DOMINGO. - The interim director of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Dominican Republic today said Washington is satisfied with "the efforts carried out by the current administration to improve transparency," and reiterated "a commitment to collaborate together with the authorities and civil society to obtain an increasingly efficient and transparent public administration."

James Watson inaugurated Tuesday the Dominican-American Day celebration as part of the Third Quality Week taking place in the capital until Thursday, January 20, listed the efforts by Washington to collaborate with the country.

“The corresponding dialogue and interchange of innovative models and better practices in government ethics, quality and management in public administration, without a doubt will contribute significantly to the success of key efforts for transparency such as the Participative Anticorruption Initiative (IPAC), as well as for the successful implementation of major reforms in governance and the judicial sector," the official said during the event

The USAID director also cited the Agency’s support for the Dominican Government on anticorruption and transparency and in the 30 recommendations in the IPAC, focused to help government agencies to implement three specific areas: public access to information, government purchases, bolstered overseer entities an rendering of accounts.

The USAID also signed cooperation agreements with the Accounts Chamber and the General Office of the Comptroller to implement an assistance program that includes training for 300 auditors in audit  norms of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO ), and the development of audit guides and norms, such as the audit operative manual, the guide on rights and responsibilities of audited organizations, procedures to evaluate internal controls and guides to examine the National Budget and the presentation of the report to the Congress.