FATF satisfied with Pakistan’s measures against terror financing: officials

The Financial Action Task Force’s Asia Pacific Group has expressed satisfaction over Pakistan’s measures against terror financing, officials of the Ministry of Finance said Thursday.

The three-day meeting between Pakistani officials and the FATF’s Asia Pacific Group was held in Beijing, China. The FATF had put Pakistan on its grey list in June 2017 because of deficiencies in the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Terrorist Financing regulations.

Pakistani officials have been lobbying to get the country’s name removed from the grey list. They believe that China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey and Malaysia will support Pakistan in the FATF meeting next month.

Islamabad needs support from at least 12 out of 39 countries in the next FATF meeting to have its name removed from the grey list.

The meeting will be held in Paris from February 16 to 21.

In a media briefing on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Office said that the intentions and steps of Pakistani leadership should be supported.

The FATF intends to stop terror financing and Pakistan has taken steps to address the concerns of the global watchdog, the spokesperson added.