Diplomatic success: FATF removes Pakistan from grey list

Lahore: After four-year wait, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) -- a global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog -- has finally removed Pakistan from the "grey list".

The decision came at the final plenary meeting of the forum in Paris. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar was present during the announcement.

Addressing a press conference, FATF President T Raja Kumar said Pakistan was coming off the FATF's grey-list.

He said Pakistan had completed a combined 34 items in its action plan and FATF recognised this progress, adding a FATF team has verified that reforms are in place.

Kumar said it appeared that Pakistan has high-level commitment and capacity to sustain these reforms.

In its handout, the FATF stated that it welcomed Pakistan’s “significant progress” in improving its anti-money laundering and combating financing terror (AML/CFT) regime.

“Pakistan has strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and addressed technical deficiencies to meet the commitments of its action plans regarding strategic deficiencies that the FATF identified in June 2018 and June 2021, the latter of which was completed in advance of the deadlines, encompassing 34 action items in total.

“Pakistan is, therefore, no longer subject to the FATF’s increased monitoring process,” the handout said, adding that the country would continue to work with the Asia-Pacific Group to further improve its AML/CFT system.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari made the announcement prior to FATF press conference, congratulating the country on the achievement.

Congratulations to the people of Pakistan. Pakistan has officially been removed from the FATF ‘grey list’. Pakistan Zindabad.

— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) October 21, 2022