The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will decide in its meeting commencing on February 22 whether to remove Pakistan from grey list or not.
The four-day meeting will be held via video conferencing. The outcome of the meeting will be announced on Feb 25 in the FATF’s concluding presser.
During its previous meeting in October 2020, the FATF found Pakistan fulfilling 21 of the 27 conditions. It noted that Pakistan has made progress on the remaining conditions also. And of them, the most focused is anti-money laundering measures.
Pakistan, in the coming meeting, will focus on seeking an on-site visit by FATF. The matter was deferred during the last meeting.
While Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has always been hopeful of getting out of the grey list, officials familiar with the development say that chances of being off from the list are dim.
Pakistan has over the past few weeks pushed diplomatic efforts in order to convince member countries that it has been doing much on its part to implement the 27 pointer action plan.
The FATF is a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. It helps authorities go after the money of criminals dealing in illegal drugs, human trafficking and other crimes. It also works to stop funding for weapons of mass destruction and the financing of terrorism.
