ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday welcomed the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) unanimous acknowledgment of its completion of action plans by Pakistan and reaffirmed that the coalition government was committed to continuing this positive trajectory of reforming Pakistan’s financial sector as part of its larger strategic objective of strengthening the economy.

The FATF is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering. In 2001, its mandate was expanded to include terrorism financing.

“The announcement by the FATF plenary of granting an on-site visit to Pakistan is a welcome development,” the foreign minister said in a statement issued by the Foreign Office.

“It also reflected the remarkable progress made by Pakistan to enhance the effectiveness of its anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime,” Mr Bhutto-Zardari said.

FM welcomes FATF acknowledgement

The minister’s remarks came after the FATF acknowledged on Friday that Pakistan had met all 34 items on two separate action plans.

The FATF’s next step is its team’s visit to the country to verify the implementation and sustainability of the country’s money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures before removing it from its monitoring list, known as the grey list.

“I am certain that this good news from FATF will restore confidence in Pakistan’s economy and act as a catalyst for sustained growth and development. Let me reiterate the government of Pakistan’s high-level commitment to continue aligning our AML/CFT regime with global standards,” the foreign minister said.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari expressed the hope that the FATF observers would pay on-site visit to the institutions concerned and a successful and early culmination of the process would lead to Pakistan’s exit from the grey list.

The foreign minister commended the hard work done by Pakistan’s FATF team that led to the successful completion of all technical requirements of both FATF action plans of 2018 and 2021.

“This was the result of concerted national efforts and complete harmony of interests by all stakeholders,” the foreign minister noted.

The FATF had put Pakistan on its increased monitoring in June 2018.

A day earlier, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar cautioned against premature celebration, but termed the country’s progress so far nothing short of a “herculean effort”.

On the planned on-site visit, she said it was a necessary procedural requirement before the FATF deems the country worthy for removal from its grey list.

Leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had also claimed that the position of Pakistan had been improved due to their efforts.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2022