The 29th EAG Plenary Meeting and 12th Meeting of Council of Heads of Financial Intelligence Units of member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States EAG:

The 29th Plenary Meeting and Working teams of the Eurasian Group on Anti-money Laundering and Terrorism Financing have taken place in Minsk (Belarus) from 12 to 16 November, 2018.

The Plenary meeting was attended by delegations of the EAG member-states: Belarus, India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and also representatives of the EAG observer states and organizations.

The delegation of the Republic of Tajikistan headed by Mr. Vatanzoda M.M., Assistant of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan on Legal Affairs consists of representatives of relevant government authorities including: General Prosecutor Office, Ministry of Justice, Agency for state financial control and fight with corruption, National Bank of Tajikistan and Financial Monitoring Department under the NBT.

The plenary meeting has confirmed the report and executive summary of mutual assessment of the Republic of Tajikistan within second round of mutual assessment of the ЕАG. The meeting’s participants have noted a substantial progress of the Republic of Tajikistan on the improvement of AML/CFT system after held mutual assessment (2008).

It was discussed in the plenary meeting the main conclusions and suggested actions concerning the regulations on Anti-money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) of the Republic of Tajikistan.

At the end of FATF procedures on quality analysis and compliance, the report will be published on the EAG’s website. We remind that mutual assessment process of RT was started in September, 2017. Visit of appraisers of the EAG for familiarization with activities, relevant government authorities on AML/CFT system and representatives of private sector (financial institutions and selected nonfinancial business and professions) was held during March 5-16, 2018 in Tajikistan.

In accordance with the procedures for carrying out the 2nd round of the EAG mutual assessment, the Republic of Tajikistan will present a progress report at the 31st Plenary meeting in November, 2019.

Within the Plenary meeting, all member-states was provided information on changes in the national legislations of the ЕАG member-states in sphere of AML/CFT and conducting ML/TF assessment. The Plenary meeting approved the Plan of the Kyrgyz Republic to eliminate the shortcomings of technical compliance and enhance the efficiency of the AML/CFT system, and also supported the efforts of the Kyrgyz Republic on involvement of Donor organizations to implement the Plan.

In the 29th plenary meeting it was held annual awards on high cooperation of government authorities on AML/CFT. Along with other EAG member-states, representatives of the Republic of Tajikistan (Financial Monitoring Department at National Bank of Tajikistan) had been presented a case recognized as the best, and the Republic of Tajikistan was announced as the winner of this competition. The representatives of the Russian Federation and the Chinese People Republic received awards of the competition. The Chairman of the EAG, Mrs. Hao Jinghua, the winner according to the established tradition, was awarded a prize from the foundation of the First Chairman of the EAG-V.A.Zubkov.

On November 14, 2018, the 12th meeting of the Council of Heads of Financial Intelligence Units of the Member-States of the Commonwealth of Independent States (СРПФР) was held in the CIS Executive Committee (Minsk, Belarus). The Executive Directors and Representatives of Financial Intelligence Units of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan have participated in this meeting. The Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit of India has attended as an observer. According to regulations, the meeting of the Council was pass by Mr. V.G.Reuta, Director of Department of Financial Monitoring of the Republic of Belarus.

During the meeting Heads and Experts of Financial Intelligence Services have discussed issues of reducing risks on Anti Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism in the CIS area. Currently, by initiative of the Council, a new version of agreements within CIS on Anti-money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Financing Prevention.

During the Council Meeting participants of Council discussed the development of common approaches for regulating electronic payment system in order to prevent their use for ML/TF (an initiative of the Financial Monitoring Department under the National Bank of Tajikistan) and carrying out an analytical study on crypto currency circulation.

The next Council Meeting will be held in Moscow in May, 2019.

Financial Monitoring Department