*ISLAMABAD – A plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)begins in Paris today (Monday), the meeting will decide whether Pakistanwill stay in the grey list or not.*
The Pakistani delegation is led by Federal Minister for Economic AffairsHammad Azhar, who has arrived in Paris, the Pakistani delegation alsoincludes officials of the Ministry of Finance, the State Bank, and FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR).
The Pakistani delegation will inform the implementation of the targets inthe meeting. As per reports, Pakistan is expected to receive support from12 countries to exit the grey list, meanwhile China, Turkey and Malaysiahave already announced their supported for Pakistan.
Experts are of the view that Pakistan is expected to exit the grey listsoon after winning a “largely-compliant” rating from the FATF, or might getmore time from the watchdog for attaining full compliance.
Pakistan will be judged by an FATF plenary meeting on the basis of theJoint 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 significantprogress to get off the grey list of the FATF while the central bank hadbeen making all-out efforts to curb money laundering and terror financing.
Last month, several FATF’s Working Group members including the EuropeanUnion and the United States had expressed satisfaction with Pakistan’sperformance.
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The FATF put Pakistan on the gray list in June 2018 under 27 action planstill September 2019, but the period was later extended to three more months.
According to officials, Pakistan has made concrete progress inimplementation of FATF action plan, risks of money laundering and terrainfinancing have been overcome.
More than 800 representatives from 205 countries and jurisdictions aroundthe world, the IMF, UN, World Bank and other organizations areparticipating in these meetings.
Six days of meetings will focus on global action to follow the money thatfuels crime and terrorism and reduce the harm caused to people and society.
