12 October 2001
Text: Treasury's Taylor on Blocking Terrorist Assets
(Task force to consider ways to stop terrorism financing) (520)
An extraordinary plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force
will address specific ways to dry up the financing of terrorism,
according to Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs
John B. Taylor.
Taylor, said the group that include 29 nations joined to stop money
laundering will meet in Washington October 29 and 30.
The Treasury official, in a statement issued October 12, reviewed
actions taken to date to block terrorist assets, noting that 66
countries have implemented orders to block these assets, over $20
million has been frozen globally since September 11, and 110 countries
have joined the United States in a multilateral effort to stop the
financial flows to terrorists and their organizations.
Following is the text of Taylor's statement as prepared for delivery:
(begin text)
FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2001
STATEMENT OF UNDER SECRETARY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
JOHN B. TAYLOR
I am pleased to announce today that all members of the G7 are taking
simultaneous action to block assets of terrorist individuals and
groups identified by the United States. This is just one example of
the unprecedented level of international cooperation we have received
to combat the financing of terrorism. Today we can say that:
-- 110 countries have committed to join the effort to combat the
financing of terrorism.
-- 66 countries now have blocking orders on terrorist assets in force,
and
-- over $20 million has been frozen globally since September 11.
In order to add to these numbers, the Administration is also prepared
to offer technical assistance to cooperating nations eager to engage
in the full range of efforts to combat the financing of terrorism.
This is a quiet but significant contribution to our overall effort.
The Administration is also moving forward on a number of other fronts
to dry up terrorist financing internationally. Last weekend, Secretary
O'Neill hosted an exceptional meeting of the G7 Finance Ministers in
Washington, after which the seven nations announced a joint action
plan on terrorist financing.
All G7 nations pledged to create an enhanced mechanism for monitoring
terrorist assets, similar to our Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking
Center in the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
At the request of the G7, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will
hold an extraordinary plenary meeting in Washington on October 29th
and 30th. The G7 has called on FATF to focus on specific measures to
combat the financing of terrorism.
Also as part of the action plan, all G7 countries pledged to establish
functional Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), such as the United
States' Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), and to join the
Egmont Group. The Egmont Group promotes cooperation between national
Financial Intelligence Units, and expedites information-sharing
requests. The Group will meet in Washington later this month to
further their coordination efforts.
The continued cooperation of the international community is critical
to the long-term success of the fight against the financing of
terrorism.
(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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