ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednes­day expressed hopes the recent “smooth and successful” on-site visit of the Financial Action Task For­ce’s (FATF) technical team would lead to a “logical conclusion” — its exit from the grey list next month.

A 15-member joint delegation of the FATF and its affiliate Asia Pacific Group paid an on-site visit to Pakistan from Aug 29 to Sept 2 to verify the country’s compliance with a 34-point action plan committed in June 2018, when the country was placed on the list.

The authorities, which kept the countrywide visit of the delegation low profile for two weeks, said on Wednesday that “it was a smooth and successful visit” from Pakistan’s perspective. In a statement, the foreign ministry said the FATF team held detailed discussions with Pakistani agencies.

A statement issued by the Foreign Office said the focus of the visit was to validate Pakistan’s high-level commitment and sustainability of reforms in the anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) reg­ime and that the meetings were held in “a constructive and positive atmosphere”.

It said the FATF team’s report would be discussed in FATF’s ICRG (Inter­national Cooperation Review Group) and plenary meetings, scheduled to be held from Oct 18 to 22 in Paris and Pakistan was looking forward to a “logical conclusion”.

It said the country had achieved a “high degree of technical compliance” with FATF standards and ensured “high level of effectiveness” by implementing two comprehensive action plans.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2022