Egypt’s national strategy to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism is a roadmap to protect Egypt’s financial and non-financial sectors from money laundering, terrorist financing, and arms proliferation, Chancellor Ahmed Saeed Khalil, head of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Unit, said. This will achieve financial stability, which will have a positive impact on supporting the Egyptian economy and achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
This came in a speech delivered by Counselor Khalil on Sunday at the launch of the Unit for Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, the new phase of the National Strategy for Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, in the presence of members of the National Coordinating Committee in the field of Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, and heads and representatives of relevant national authorities.
He stressed the need to ensure that the national strategy to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, launched in 2013, is comprehensive and provides an integrated system to address these types of crimes in line with regional and international standards and conventions.
The Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Unit is co-ordinating with the National Co-ordination Committee, which specializes in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as all other relevant entities, to develop the national strategy and update it regularly to keep pace with local, regional and international developments, he said.
“”The new phase of the strategy, which we are about to launch on Sunday, stems from the international standards issued in this regard, primarily the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in light of its role as the international body charged with setting international standards in the fight against these crimes,” said Khalil.
“The strategy is in line with international and regional conventions concerned with combating these two crimes and other related crimes.
“Among them are the conventions on Combating Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, conventions related to the suppression of the financing of terrorism, conventions on combating transnational organized crime, as well as conventions related to preventing and combating corruption”.he added.
He stressed that the report on the mutual evaluation of measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in Egypt, which was adopted by the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) General Meeting in June 2021, was taken into account as well as international best practices in this regard.
He stressed that the principle of participation is one of the main pillars that led to the conclusion of the new phase of the national strategy, noting that all stakeholders were involved in the development and preparation of this version to make it a comprehensive strategy.
“This phase is an extension and an update of the objectives of the previous phase, especially concerning the objectives related to ensuring a common understanding of the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing at the national level, modernizing legislative and oversight frameworks in line with international standards, increasing the commitment of the entities subject to the requirements of combating them, and intensifying local, regional and international cooperation in this field,” he concluded.
