ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will present the country’s progress at a plenary meeting of the global anti-money laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in Germany this week, the Pakistani foreign office said on Tuesday.
Germany is hosting the FATF plenary meeting in Berlin from June 13 to June 17.
Pakistan was placed on the FATF grey list of countries in 2018 for inadequate anti-terror funding and money laundering controls. In June 2021, FATF President Marcus Pleyer said Islamabad had made “significant progress,” but there remained “serious deficiencies” in mechanisms to plug money laundering and “terrorism” financing.
In March, the FATF announced retaining Pakistan on its “grey list,” but recognized the “swift steps” taken by Islamabad to improve its anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of “terrorism” (CFT) regimes.
“The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, who is also the Chair of Pakistan’s National FATF Coordination Committee, will lead the Pakistan delegation in the FATF Plenary Meeting being held in Berlin, Germany,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
“During the meeting, Pakistan’s progress under the 2018 and 2021 FATF Action Plans will be discussed. The Plenary will review the recommendations of FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG).”
Khar will hold meetings with the incoming and outgoing FATF presidents, executive secretary and heads of delegations of FATF member states to apprise them of the progress made by Pakistan on both FATF action plans.
“The Minister of State will underscore the Government’s high-level political commitment to further strengthen Pakistan’s domestic AML-CFT regime,” the statement read.
During the visit, the Pakistani state minister will also hold meetings with German dignitaries in the context of Pakistan-Germany bilateral relations.
Pakistan was placed on the jurisdiction, subject to increased monitoring in 2018. Since then, Islamabad has taken measures to fulfill the FATF action plans and strengthen its AML and CFT programs.
After its plenary meeting in March, the FATF said Pakistan had fulfilled six of the seven action items highlighted by the watchdog’s Asia Pacific Group (APG) in 2021.
It recognized Pakistan’s continued political commitment led to “significant progress” across a comprehensive counter-terrorism financing action plan and that the South Asian country had fulfilled 26 of the 27 action items of its 2018 plan.
