ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has expressed its strong resolve to keep up efforts on counter financing of terrorism, an official statement said.
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, the caretaker finance minister, said the coordination between the central bank, banking institutions and law enforcement agencies have been strengthened to curb money laundering and terror financing.
Akhtar chaired on Friday a high-level meeting to discuss matters related to Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
FATF’s plenary meeting is scheduled to take place in Paris from June 24 where Pakistan is required to submit its action plan for review.
Key government ministers and senior officials including Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Foreign Minister Abdullah Hussain Haroon and National Security Adviser Lt. General (retd) Nasir Khan Janjua, reviewed Pakistan’s strategy ahead of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary meeting.
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar said the Finance Ministry had recently improved institutional mechanisms for handling Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).
“Indeed, Pakistan needs to satisfy FATF for avoiding sanctions and demonstrating its resolve to combat the menace of terrorism,” Islamabad-based analyst and professor at Quaid-i-Azam University Zaffar Nawaz Jaspal told Arab News.
Jaspal added: “Nevertheless, it’s an irony that despite Pakistani armed forces’ successful military operations and arrests of Al-Qaeda members and other wanted militants by law enforcement agencies, the Western nations are pressuring Pakistan at the FATF forum.”
While discussing the suggestions to further strengthen measures and strong implementation of mechanism, government officials “underscored Pakistan’s resolve to further strengthen the AML/CFT regime emphasized and agreed on formation of 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 official statement read.
The high-level meeting stressed intergovernmental cooperation and coordination for better results.
“Pakistan needs to demonstrate that it will prevent its formal and informal financial sector from being used for socially undesirable motives,” Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, an economist and joint executive director at Islamabad based think-tank Sustainable Development Policy Institute, told Arab News.
“Organizations and individuals responsible for promoting money laundering or related activities should be dealt with as per laws; and implementation of these laws should be certain and timely,” Vaqar suggested.
He added: “Such measures will also benefit the Pakistan economy, which requires greater documentation and transition of activities currently under the informal sector toward formalized systems. The central bank and other regulators would also require capacity building to check transactions not allowed under the law.”
In February this year, FATF decided that Pakistan was to be placed on its gray list from June 2018, and Islamabad was asked to submit its action plan on how it wanted to act against proscribed militant factions and curb terror financing.
FATF is an intergovernmental body that monitors money laundering and terror financing.
Earlier this week, on June 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) unveiled new regulations to curb money laundering and CFT regulations to avert being placed on the gray list by FATF.
“The regulations are fully compliant with FATF recommendations, which are mandatory to adopt for Pakistan as a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering,” the SECP said in a statement.
Few days before FATF meeting, Pakistan vows to fortify steps against terror financing
Few days before FATF meeting, Pakistan vows to fortify steps against terror financing
- The high-level meeting stressed inter-governmental cooperation and coordination for better results, the official statement said
- FATF plenary meeting is scheduled to take place from June 24 in Paris where Pakistan is required to submit its action plan for review
Pakistan reroutes kinnow exports to Gulf, Asia after Afghan closure – commerce ministry
- Border shutdown with Afghanistan since late 2025 disrupted a key overland route for Pakistan’s citrus exports
- Kinnow shipments earned about $40 million during peak season despite loss of a major regional market
KARACHI: Pakistan has rerouted kinnow orange exports to the Gulf and Southeast Asia after the closure of the Afghan market disrupted one of the country’s largest traditional destinations for the citrus crop, the commerce ministry said on Monday, underscoring a push to diversify export markets amid regional security tensions.
The shift follows Pakistan’s closure of major border crossings with Afghanistan in late 2025 after deadly clashes and a sharp rise in militant attacks that Islamabad says originated from Afghan territory. Pakistan has linked the restrictions to concerns over cross-border militancy, saying trade routes would remain constrained until Kabul takes credible steps to curb militant activity, a charge Afghan authorities deny.
Before the shutdown, bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan exceeded $1.6 billion annually, with overland routes playing a crucial role in the export of perishables such as kinnow, a Pakistani variety of mandarin orange. Exporters have warned that prolonged border disruptions particularly hurt citrus shipments during the winter harvest, forcing consignments to seek longer and costlier alternative routes.
Despite the disruption, the Ministry of Commerce said exporters successfully redirected shipments to other destinations.
“Priority was given to expanding access to markets in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and other non-traditional destinations, while ensuring compliance with international quality and phytosanitary standards,” the ministry of commerce said in a statement on Monday.
According to official export figures cited by the ministry, Pakistan earned approximately $40 million from kinnow exports within 45 days, covering December and the first half of January, as shipments maintained momentum despite the loss of the Afghan market.
The ministry said it coordinated closely with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), overseas trade missions and logistics partners to facilitate rerouting, documentation and market outreach, helping exporters avoid losses during the peak citrus export window.
Officials said the diversification drive helped sustain foreign-exchange inflows and protect growers, packers and exporters across the citrus value chain, while reinforcing Pakistan’s reputation as a reliable supplier in Gulf and Asian markets.
The performance, the ministry added, is being viewed as a positive signal for broader agricultural exports as Pakistan seeks to reduce dependence on a limited number of regional trade routes amid persistent geopolitical and security risks.
