Uzbekistan and OSCE Join Forces to Combat Money Laundering

Promoting good governance and combating corruption, money laundering and financing of terrorism are key areas of OSCE activity. In this regard, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan – together with the Department for Combating Economic Crimes under the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Financial Intelligence Unit of Uzbekistan), the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG), and the International Training and Methodology Centre for Financial Monitoring – organized the “Meeting with Donors and Providers of Technical Assistance” on 9-10 March in Tashkent.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Technical Assistance Plan for Uzbekistan on anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), developed after the publication of the Second Evaluation Report of the EAG Secretariat in 2022. The report, which aims to bring national AML/CFT systems in line with international standards, identified a number of shortcomings, which the Technical Assistance Plan aims to address. Discussions thus focused on strengthening the host country’s capacity to effectively overcome those, especially by identifying areas for better co-operation among donors and providers of technical assistance and defining the timeframe for the implementation of the Plan.

The event gathered more than forty participants – including representatives from different donor countries and international organizations.

Dilshod Rahimov, Head of the FIU of Uzbekistan, stressed that the implementation of the recommendations of the Mutual Evaluation Report to improve the national AML/CFT system was essential to create a better investment climate and greater transparency, thus ensuring sustainable economic growth.

Hans-Ullrich Ihm, Acting OSCE Project Co-ordinator, assured that the OSCE will continue to support Uzbekistan in its efforts to combat money laundering and corruption, and underlined the importance of these meetings in offering avenues to additional capacity building, better coordination and more efficient implementation.