Pakistan is strongly lobbying with the United States to remove itself from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Pakistan also has urged the US to review its travel advisories for Pakistan and encourage foreign investment. If not removed from the list by April 2020 Pakistan may face a severe economic blacklist.
Crux of the Matter
The FATF in 2019 had decided to keep Pakistan on its ‘Grey’ list for failure to curb funding to terror groups LeT, JeM and others.
A Pakistani delegation arrived in Beijing for the 3-day face-to-face talks with the FATF Working Group that would start on January 21.
The briefing will review whether Pakistan has complied with an earlier agenda presented to it.
Pakistan has submitted a 650-page review report to the FATF on January 8
This FATF meeting in Bejing is important as it leads to a plenary meeting in Paris in April where the world body will decide whether Pakistan remains on the list or is taken off.
Blacklisting by FATF would result in a freeze of capital flowing to Pakistan, slow progress in the refinancing of loans from major bilateral creditors, and increased headwinds from a weaker global economic backdrop.
Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi met the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and hoped that the US would back their efforts to get out of the grey list.
Curiopedia
The Financial Action Task Force is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering. In 2001 its mandate expanded to include terrorism financing. It monitors progress in implementing the FATF Recommendations through “peer reviews’ of member countries. The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. More Info
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