ISLAMABAD ( WEB NEWS )
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has appreciated Pakistan for the significant progress made on the entire action plan. The Plenary meetings of FATF were held virtually from 22-25 February 2021, where its members discussed a range of topics relating to Pakistan’s progress. Pakistan’s delegation in the FATF Plenary was led by Mr. Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Chairman FATF Coordination Committee / Federal Minister for Industries and Production and attended by senior officers from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NACTA, FMU, National FATF Secretariat and other key stakeholders. In its plenary meeting held on 25th February, FATF has
stated that “To date, Pakistan has made progress across all action plan items and has now largely addressed 24 of the 27 action items.” The FATF has also acknowledged the continued high-level political commitment of Pakistan to combat terrorist financing which, according to FATF statement, has led to significant progress across a comprehensive countering financing of terrorism plan. Pakistan has undertaken enormous work to strengthen its AML/CFT regime and address the strategic counter-terrorist financing related deficiencies. In addition to the acknowledgement by FATF in its plenary statement that Pakistan has made significant progress on the entire action plan by addressing 24 out of the 27 items in the action plan, Pakistan has also made notable progress in the remaining 3 action items which also stand partially addressed. As of now,all the 10 action items pertaining to the financial sector and border controls have been addressed. In relation to Terrorism Financing (TF) investigations and prosecutions, 6 of the 8 action items have been addressed, whereas for targeted financial sanctions, 8 of the 9 action items also stand addressed. The progress on the remaining 3 action items is well underway with significant progress made so far. The Ministry of Finance reaffirms its commitment to continue strengthening the AML/CFT regime in line with the global standards.
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