06 October 2001
Text: G-7 Action Plan to Combat the Financing of Terrorism
(Calls on all countries to track and freeze assets) (690)
The finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G-7) nations have
developed a multilateral plan to block terrorist assets.
Released at a press briefing following the ministers' October 6
meeting in Washington, the plan calls for all countries to freeze
terrorist assets and to establish information-sharing financial
intelligence units and mechanisms to track the assets.
The plan says the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at its October
29-30 meeting should develop guidelines for financial institutions on
practices associated with terrorism financing and a process for
identifying countries that facilitate terrorist financing.
The plan calls on the International Monetary Fund to accelerate its
efforts to assess supervision of offshore financial centers and
provide technical assistance to strengthen their integrity.
The G-7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the
United Kingdom and the United States. FATF is the world's leading
anti-money laundering authority.
Following is the text of the finance ministers' plan:
(being text)
Action Plan to Combat the Financing of Terrorism
We, the G-7 Finance Ministers, have developed an integrated,
comprehensive Action Plan to block the assets of terrorists and their
associates. We pledge to work together to deliver real results in
combating the scourge of the financing of terrorism.
More vigorous implementation of international sanctions is critical to
cut off the financing of terrorism. We are implementing UNSCR 1333 and
UNSCR 1373, which call on all States to freeze the funds and financial
assets not only of the terrorist Usama bin Laden and his associates,
but terrorists all over the world. Each of us will ratify the UN
Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing as soon as
possible. We will work within our Governments to consider additional
measures and share lists of terrorists as necessary to ensure that the
entire network of terrorist financing is addressed.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) should play a vital role in
fighting the financing of terrorism. At its extraordinary plenary
meeting in Washington D.C., FATF should focus on specific measures to
combat terrorist financing, including:
-- Issuing special FATF recommendations and revising the FATF 40
Recommendations to take into account the need to fight terrorist
financing, including through increased transparency;
-- Issuing special guidance for financial institutions on practices
associated with the financing of terrorism that warrant further action
on the part of affected institutions;
-- Developing a process to identify jurisdictions that facilitate
terrorist financing, and making recommendations for actions to achieve
cooperation from such countries.
Enhanced sharing of information among financial intelligence units
(FIUs) is also critical to cut off the flow of resources to terrorist
organizations and their associates. We call on all countries to
establish functional FIUs as soon as possible. The G-7 countries will
all join the Egmont Group, which promotes cooperation between national
FIUs, and turn around information sharing requests as expeditiously as
possible. We also call on the Egmont Group to enhance cooperation
among its members, to improve its information exchange with the FIUs
in other countries, and to exchange information regarding terrorist
financing. We encourage all countries to establish a terrorist
asset-tracking center or similar mechanism and to share that
information on a cross-border basis.
Financial supervisors and regulators around the world will need to
redouble their efforts to strengthen their financial sectors to ensure
that they are not abused by terrorists. We welcome the guidance by the
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on customer identification to
stop the abuse of the financial system by terrorists and urge that it
be incorporated into banks' internal safeguards. We urge the
International Monetary Fund to accelerate its efforts, in close
relation with the Financial Stability Forum, to assess the adequacy of
supervision in offshore financial centers and provide the necessary
technical assistance to strengthen their integrity.
We ask all governments to join us in denying terrorists access to the
resources that are needed to carry out evil acts.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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