ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar on Friday held a meeting on matters relating to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in wake of the global task force’s upcoming plenary meeting in Paris.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Hussain Haroon and National Security Advisor Nasir Khan Janjua were also present on the occasion.
The finance minister expressed Pakistan’s strong resolve to keep up efforts on counter financing of terrorism. She said that the ministry has improved institutional mechanisms for handling anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) issues.
She added that the coordination between central bank, banking institutions and law enforcement agencies have also been strengthened to curb money laundering and terror financing.
She invited participants to share their views and suggestions to further strengthen measures and enforce a strong implementation mechanism in this regard.
The participants, while underscoring Pakistan’s resolve to further strengthen the AML/CFT regime, emphasised and agreed to form a high-level implementation committee to regularly oversee progress made by different agencies and departments engaged in the drive to counter financing of terrorism.
The meeting stressed inter-governmental cooperation as well as inter-agencies coordination for better results. The meeting was also briefed on the preparations by Pakistan’s delegation scheduled to attend FATF meeting at Paris.
Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the global watchdog during its earlier meeting in February. The upcoming meeting will review progress on AML/CFT issues.
The FATF will meet for six days of meetings to discuss important issues to protect the integrity of the global financial system and contribute to safety and security.
The meetings will involve delegates from the 203 jurisdictions of the FATF global network, as well as the UN, IMF, World Bank and other partners. The third and final plenary meeting will be held from 27-29 June 2018.
