Page 8 - Tony Bday

Dear Tony,
Greetings, Congratulations and Best Wishes on such a significant birthday!
I don’t know where the time has gone - it’s now nearly eight years since I last saw you - at a meeting of the INTOSAI/donor partnership, held in London at the UK National Audit Office. Shortly afterwards, I headed off to work in the DFID office in Afghanistan, before retiring. Although excited by the prospect of Afghanistan, I was very sorry that I would be ending my involvement with the INTOSAI/donor partnership and that I would no longer be working with you on that and on the other international initiatives in which you played such a key role. With your drive and enthusiasm you really made things happen and made things fun. I remember our (pre-Zoom era) teleconferences, involving four different countries and five different locations, which you chaired with great skill. I also have happy memories of the visits to Brussels, Morocco, South Africa, Malawi, New Delhi, Jaipur and Manilla in connection with the INTOSAI partnership, the partnership with IFAC and the OECD-DAC Task Force on PFM. I also enjoyed my visits to Washington and really appreciated your invitation for me to join a meeting of the Bank’s fiduciary forum there. Working with you was not only productive and fun, but I learned a lot. You were very perceptive in dealing with people and came up with insights and ideas which I would not have thought of. It was great working with you and I am very grateful for the experience and for all I learned from you.
Are you spending your time in Washington or back in Ireland, or are you splitting it between the two? Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I wish you all the very best.
Stephen