Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar assured the nation on Friday that the threat of Pakistan being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has been averted.
“We want to reassure the nation that the threat of blacklisting on Pakistan has been averted,” said the federal minister while addressing a press conference in Islamabad a day after the FATF granted the country four more months to complete the action plan.
Hammad Azhar said that the FATF has assured Pakistan of this as well.
The minister said that Pakistan was given the “world’s toughest action plan” by the global watchdog on money laundering. He said that the only two points of the plan were implemented by Pakistan when it was handed over to the country two years ago, but today the country has fulfilled 24 of those points.
Azhar explained that when the action plan was announced the first objective of the country was to ensure that Pakistan avoids the blacklist. He said that now the FATF was saying that Pakistan has fulfilled 90% of the objectives.
He assured that the last three items will be “fulfilled by Pakistan in June”.
“We will try to fulfill the 27 points by June,” said Azhar.
Highlighting the government’s commitment in fulfilling the objectives, the minister shared that Pakistan had the option to not report during the coronavirus pandemic but it still did so.
“We had the option to not report during the coronavirus pandemic [but] Pakistan fulfilled its objectives during the difficult times of coronavirus,” said Azhar. He termed the country’s performance as “exemplary”.
“We are trying to meet all the 27 conditions by June,” assured the minister and explained to the journalists that it was difficult to implement the complete plan as each task was different from the other.
He said that the last three tasks required by Pakistan focus on “non-profit organisations regulation” and will require “tougher measures”.
‘Committed to complying with FATF action plan’
Earlier on Thursday, Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to continue strengthening the AML/CFT regime in line with global standards and comply with the FATF’s action plan.
The statement from the Ministry of Finance was issued after the FATF appreciated Pakistan for the significant progress made by the country on the entire action plan.
The plenary meetings of the global watchdog were held virtually from 22-25 February 2021, where its members discussed a range of topics relating to Pakistan’s progress.
