OSCE Centre in Ashgabat promotes national mechanisms of combatting money laundering
ASHGABAT, 2 September 2014 – The national system for combatting money laundering and preventing financing of terrorism was discussed at an OSCE-supported roundtable discussion, held at the Good Governance Resource Centre in Ashgabat today.
The discussion, led by Aleksandar Vujicic, an international expert from Serbia, brought together representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Justice and the State Service to protect the security of a healthy society of Turkmenistan.
The discussion focused on the ways to further enhance national mechanisms for combatting money laundering and financing of terrorism in line with the recent recommendations of the of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).
“As money laundering and the financing of terrorism continue to represent a serious threat to security across the OSCE region, the OSCE encourages its participating States to make the best use of international practices in the area of combating these transnational threats and intensify their efforts to effectively respond to them,” said Ambassador Ivo Petrov, Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.
“Our event today marks a successful continuation of the activities of the Good Governance Resource Centre, which was recently established in the premises of the Finance Ministry of Turkmenistan with the OSCE Centre’s support. The OSCE Centre in Ashgabat remains committed to providing further assistance to the efforts of the host government aimed at preventing and combating corruption, money laundering and the financing of terrorism.”
FATF is an inter-governmental body dealing with the development of international standards and promoting policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing as well as assessing the compliance of national systems with these standards.
“In case of full implementation of FATF standards, Turkmenistan would become an important international example of combating money laundering and terrorist financing,” said Vujicic.