Pakistan is restless ahead of the meeting of the International Action Task Force (FATF) at the international level to monitor and curb terror funding and money laundering. Now he has requested the US to help him get out of the gray list of FATF. Islamabad is so restless because if it is not able to get out of the FATF's gray list by April, it can be blacklisted. The FATF meeting to be held in Beijing will review the steps taken by Pakistan to effectively curb terror funding and money laundering.
This week, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump. Khan will attend the World Economic Forum's conference in Davos, Switzerland from 21 January to 23 January. He will meet Trump on the sidelines of WEF. The special thing is that the meeting of FATF Working Group in Beijing will also run from 21 January to 23 January.
Pakistan team arrives in Beijing for FATF meeting
The Pakistani delegation is headed by Minister for Economic Affairs Division Hammad Azhar, which also includes representatives from the National Counter Terrorism Authority, Ministry of External Affairs, State Bank of Pakistan.
Pak will be blacklisted if it does not get out of gray list till April
In October last year, the FATF decided to put Pakistan on the 'gray' list because of its failure to curb terror funding for Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and other terrorist organizations. If Pakistan is not able to get out of this list by April this year, it can be blacklisted and strict economic sanctions like Iran can be imposed on it.
Pakistan submitted a 650-page review report to the FATF on 8 January. This report was presented in response to 150 questions asked by the FATF regarding Pakistan's new policies regarding money laundering. The report outlines the steps taken by Pakistan towards implementing FATF recommendations between October 2019 and January 2020.
Pakistani Foreign Minister had expressed hope – US will help
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday hoped during a media briefing in Washington that the US would help pull Islamabad out of the gray list of the FATF in Beijing. Qureshi went on a 3-day trip to America. During that time he met with all the officials and MPs, including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor Robert O. Bryan.
The time has come for Trump to fulfill his promise: Qureshi
Qureshi said that US President Donald Trump had said in his meeting with Pakistan PM Imran Khan last year that he wanted to see Islamabad out of the FATF gray list. He said that is why he hopes that American officers will now work in this direction. Qureshi said that Pakistan has taken many concrete steps to meet the standards of FATF and now the time has come for President Trump to fulfill his promise.
