§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the recent financial action task force plenary meeting on terrorist financing, money laundering and non-cooperative jurisdictions held in Hong Kong. [37651]
§ Ruth KellyAt the financial action task force plenary meeting in Hong Kong, China made good progress in taking forward the FATF's work on terrorist financing.
The FATF plenary was followed by a successful global terrorist financing forum, attended by almost 60 jurisdictions from FATF, FATF-style regional bodies and the OGBS, as well as nine international organisations. The 1213W forum stressed the importance of all jurisdictions adopting and implementing the eight special recommendations on terrorist financing issued by the FATF in October 2001. The forum called on all jurisdictions in the world to participate in a self-assessment exercise against the special recommendations on the same terms as FATF members.
The FATF confirmed that in June 2002, it will initiate a process to identify jurisdictions that lack appropriate measures to combat terrorist financing. FATF members reiterated their commitment of members to assist non-members, as appropriate, to comply with the special recommendations.
The FATF also reviewed its list of non-co-operative countries and territories (NCCTs) in the fight against money laundering, and welcomed the additional progress made by a number of the 19 jurisdictions on the list. The FATF will consider progress made by NCCT countries at its next meeting in June 2002, and will consider taking counter-measures against jurisdictions that have not made adequate progress in addressing deficiencies.