Combating money laundering and financing of terrorism in CIS discussed in Almaty

The meeting brought together delegations from Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Secretariat of the CIS Council and Executive Committee.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of the International Training and Methodology Center for Financial Monitoring, the Bureau for the Coordination of the Fight against Organized Crime and Other Dangerous Types of Crimes in the CIS, the Coordinating Council of Prosecutors General, the Anti-Terrorism Center, the Coordination Service of the Council of Border Troops Commanders, the Council of Heads of Migration Authorities, and the Secretariat of the Interstate Council for Combating Corruption, the Eurasian Group on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the secretariats of the CSTO and the EEC, and delegations of the financial intelligence units of India and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Greetings to the participants of the meeting were sent by CIS Deputy Secretary General Dauren Abayev. He noted that the Council promptly responds to emerging challenges and threats and makes a worthy contribution to ensuring security in the CIS, to improving the regulatory framework for cooperation and implementing the targeted interstate programs.

"The well-coordinated and purposeful work of the CIS Council of Heads of Financial Intelligence Units is one of the most important areas of cooperation in security and law in the CIS," Dauren Abayev emphasized. He thanked the members of the Council for organizing and conducting two significant operations Barrier and Orion that identified international terrorist centers and structures that assist them.

During the meeting, representatives of the CIS countries exchanged views on the current operational situation in the CIS states in the field of combating the legalization (laundering) of criminal proceeds and the financing of terrorism, the measures taken to stabilize it, including innovations in legislation.

One of the items on the agenda was about the setting up of an international center for assessing the risks of money laundering and financing of terrorism. Igor Malashevich, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Council, Advisor to the Department for Cooperation in the Field of Security and Countering New Challenges and Threats of the CIS Executive Committee, spoke about the progress in this project. He informed the meeting that the draft agreement on the establishment of the center was considered at four meetings of expert groups at the CIS headquarters. Now the document has been sent to the CIS countries to complete the internal approval procedures. It is planned to be included in the draft agenda of the CIS summit due in Bishkek in October.

The participants of the meeting took note of the progress report on the establishment of a SiNerGia system for the exchange of information between the financial intelligence units of the CIS countries. They decided to make amends to the regulations on the system and generally approved the draft of a new edition of the regulations on information exchange using SNerGia. In addition, the members of the council discussed issues related to the inventory of the legal framework for cooperation, the activities of the working groups at the council, and a number of other items.

The next meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Financial Intelligence Units will be held in Russia during the final leg of the 3rd International Financial Security Olympiad in October this year.

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