Pakistan to come out of grey list in 2020: Hammad

ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Muhammad Hammad Azhar said that Pakistan had targeted to complete all items on its Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan and get upgraded from the grey list to the white list in 2020.

The minister, in a tweet, said that a coordinated effort from all regulators, law enforcement agencies (LEAs), federal and provincial government departments

was already underway in this regards.

“Pakistan has targeted to complete all items on its FATF action plan and InshAllah upgrades from the grey list to the white list of FATF in 2020. A coordinated effort from all Regulators, LEAs, Federal and Provincial Govt Depts is already underway in this regards,” he tweeted.

The minister said FATF had noted progress already achieved by Pakistan during the last year and especially in the last 4 months.

However, he added that more work was needed to be done as the country’s action plan was perhaps the most ambitious and challenging ever handed out to any country.

“FATF has noted progress already achieved by Pakistan during the last year and especially in the last four months. However, more work needs to be done as our action plan is perhaps the most ambitious and challenging ever handed out to any country,” the minister tweeted.

It is to be mentioned here that the FATF Plenary meeting was held in Paris from

13-18 October, in which Pakistan delegation was led by Hammad Azhar.

The FATF meeting considered Pakistan’s progress report on the FATF Action Plan and Pakistan’s APG Mutual Evaluation Report (MER).

Pakistan’s delegation had reaffirmed its political commitment to fully implement the Action Plan.

The FATF Plenary meeting decided to maintain status quo on the FATF Action Plan and allow the usual 12 months observation period for the APG MER.

The delegation had also held sideline meetings with various delegations and briefed them about the progress made by Pakistan on the FATF Action Plan and steps taken for strengthening its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financial Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework.