ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday Saudi Arabia had fully supported Pakistan’s stance that it had taken adequate measures to warrant being removed from the grey list of global money laundering watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

FATF had placed Pakistan on its “grey list” of countries with inadequate controls over terrorism financing in 2018, which made foreign firms more cautious about investing in Pakistan.

In February, FATF President Marcus Pleyer said Islamabad had made “significant progress” but there remained “serious deficiencies” in mechanisms to plug money laundering and terrorism financing. Pleyer said three out of 27 action points still needed work.

“Saudi Arabia completely supported us on FATF,” Qureshi said in an interview to a Pakistani news channel on Thursday. “On the whole, they have been endorsing our stance.”

The foreign minister said he expected Riyadh to vote in favor of Pakistan whenever the next FATF meeting took place. 

Pakistan has lately been pushing through tougher legislation and other measures to ward off blacklisting by the FATF.

In recent months, it says its law enforcement agencies have cracked down on Islamist militant groups — especially Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its welfare arms, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insanyat — and on their sources of income, arresting, trying and convicting several of their members and leaders.

Pakistan denies long-standing accusations that it has nurtured and supported militant groups for use as proxies to project power in the region, particularly toward its arch-rival India and in Afghanistan.