Pakistan grey list: FATF meets today in Paris

• The Pakistani delegation is led by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar.
• Pakistan is expected to receive support from 12 countries to exit the grey list, meanwhile China, Turkey and Malaysia have already announced their supported for Pakistan.

A plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) begins in Paris today (Monday),  the meeting will decide whether Pakistan will stay in the grey list or not.

The Pakistani delegation is led by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, who has arrived in Paris, the Pakistani delegation also includes officials of the Ministry of Finance, the State Bank, and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The Pakistani delegation will inform the implementation of the targets in the meeting. As per reports, Pakistan is expected to receive support from 12 countries to exit the grey list, meanwhile China, Turkey and Malaysia have already announced their supported for Pakistan.

Experts are of the view that Pakistan is expected to exit the grey list soon after winning a “largely-compliant" rating from the FATF, or might get more time from the watchdog for attaining full compliance.

Pakistan will be judged by an FATF plenary meeting on the basis of the Joint Group's report, concluded last month, for a possible exit from the ‘grey list' or at least avoiding an entry into the black list.

On January 28, the State Bank stated that Pakistan had made significant progress to get off the grey list of the FATF while the central bank had been making all-out efforts to curb money laundering and terror financing.

Last month, several FATF's Working Group members including the European Union and the United States had expressed satisfaction with Pakistan's performance.

The FATF put Pakistan on the gray list in June 2018 under 27 action plans till September 2019, but the period was later extended to three more months.

According to officials, Pakistan has made concrete progress in implementation of FATF action plan, risks of money laundering and terrain financing have been overcome.

More than 800 representatives from 205 countries and jurisdictions around the world, the IMF, UN, World Bank and other organizations are participating in these meetings.

Six days of meetings will focus on global action to follow the money that fuels crime and terrorism and reduce the harm caused to people and society.

FATF Week will conclude with the Plenary, from 19 February.? Among the important issues to be discussed are: Assessments of measures by Korea and the United Arab Emirates to combat money laundering and terrorist financing; Progress by Iran, Pakistan and other countries that present a risk to the financial system; The progress of an FATF initiative to combat financial flows from the illegal wildlife trade; Publishing a guidance paper on digital identity and Developments in the financing of ISIL, Al-Qaeda and Affiliates.