Asia-Pacific Group expresses satisfaction with Pakistan’s 3rd Mutual Evaluation Report

CANBERRA, Australia (92 News) – The Asia-Pacific Group (APG), the regional affiliate of the FATF, has expressed satisfaction with Pakistan’s third Mutual Evaluation Report. During a meeting held for five-year mutual evaluation of Pakistan’s progress on upgrading its systems in all areas of financial and insurance services and sectors in Canberra on Wednesday, the Asia-Pacific Group lauded the efforts of Pakistan and termed steps taken by it as the best. In the 450-page report, the group was informed about 21 steps implemented to curb money laundering and financial assistance of terrorism. A senior-level delegation from Pakistan, headed by Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr Reza Baqir, attended the meeting. The MER covers the period from February to October 2018 and identifies a number of areas where further actions are required to strengthen the AML/CFT framework. The APG is the FATF-style regional body for the Asia-Pacific region. It is an inter-governmental organisation founded in 1997 in Bangkok. The mutual evaluation process by the APG is separate from the FATF but it is based on the implementation of 40 FATF recommendations. In the discussions, Pakistan welcomed engagement with the international community in its efforts to countering terrorism and money laundering. The delegation briefed APG members on the steps taken in recent times for improving its AML/CFT framework as well as the actions for ensuring effective implementation of the FATF Action Plan. They also held a number of bilateral meetings with key delegations to brief them on recent progress by Pakistan in implementing the FATF Action Plan. Pakistan is a member of the APG since 2000. APG is a regional body of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and requires its members to undergo mutual evaluation on the compliance of its anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework with FATF recommendations. During the meetings, Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) also signed an MoU with the China Anti Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Center (CAMLAC) on exchange of financial intelligence. The second meeting of the FATF will be held in Bangkok in September this year.