Pakistan has made significant progress on FATF action plan: minister

ISLAMABAD:  Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar on Saturday said Pakistan has made significant progress on implementation on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan in the last year.

“Pakistan has made significant progress at FATF in the last one year. 14 out of 27 action items of the ICRG [International Co-operation Review Group] Action Plan carry ‘largely complete’ status now,” he said in a statement on social media site Twitter.

The federal minister said the overwhelming majority of member countries of the global body have positively acknowledged the significant progress made by Pakistan.

“Overwhelming majority of countries have positively acknowledged the significant progress made by Pakistan,” he said.

READ MORE: FATF decides to place Pakistan on grey list until June 2020

The minister, who lead the Pakistani delegation during the plenary session in Paris, said that the country is undergoing dual scrutiny, and have made progress in the action plan.

“Pakistan is undergoing dual scrutiny at FATF platform. Pak authorities are aiming to complete the ICRG action plan during 2020. And also working in parallel on the deficiencies of the APG MER for which we are currently in the observation period,” he explained.

READ MORE: Pakistan has made efforts in improving counter-terror financing: China

Earlier a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry had said the global body has given Pakistan more time to implement the action plan.

“Pakistan has made enormous efforts in improving its CTF regime, which has been recognized by the majority of FATF members at the latest plenary meeting in Paris.”

“China & other countries will continue offering assistance to Pakistan in this area,” the spokesperson added.

Pakistan has been retained on the grey list until June 2020 as the FATF was not satisfied over removing it until the anti-money laundering and terror-financing regimes have been completely implemented.