Terrorism, terror financing: Shamshad reiterates government''s resolve to strengthen steps

Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar Saturday reiterated the government''s strong resolve to strengthen measures against terrorism and terrorism financing. In a press release issued from Islamabad, she said this during the meetings which were attended by delegates from several countries as well as the UN, IMF, World Bank and other multilateral institutions.
On the sidelines of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the International Country Risk Guide ICRG meetings, the Pakistani delegation held bilateral meetings with several FATF members to ensure their support for Pakistan in the process.
FATF members were informed that the Government of Pakistan already sent its commitment letter to the FATF President on the Policy Action Plan on 22 June 2018. A special intervention to FATF/ICRG was made by Dr Shamshad Akhtar. She emphasised that Pakistan was steadfast in upgrading the AML/CFT standards and ensuring their enforcement. She reiterated the Government of Pakistan''s strong resolve to strengthen its counter measures against terrorism and terrorism financing, and to implement the Action Plan by adopting a "whole-of-government" approach.
This opportunity was instrumental in ensuring Pakistan''s commitment to the world for compliance of international standards and increasing effectiveness of regulatory and enforcement regimes for its own benefit.
Extensive preparation in consultations with all the concerned authorities and initiating some actions prior to the Paris meetings was helpful in strengthening Pakistan''s case. The FATF/ICRG group supported Pakistan''s proposition on keeping the timeframe realistic for implementation of policy actions. Further to the decision already made at the FATF Plenary held in February 2018, the FATF Plenary of June 2018 approved the Action Plan for Pakistan and placed Pakistan on its Public Statement in the Ongoing Compliance section. Moving forward, the Government of Pakistan is putting in place a strategy to implement the Action Plan in the next 15 months.
Given the complexity and size of the action plan, the Minister for Finance has established a high-powered, inclusive and robust institutional coordination and monitoring mechanism to ensure that the Action Plan is implemented within time and the country is brought out of FATF''s Public Statement the soonest.