Regional Workshop on Illicit use of Money and Value Transfer Services (MVTS): Enhancing Inter-Agency Working and Financial Intelligence & Eleventh regional meeting among the FIUs of the countries in West and Central Asia (under the CASH initiative)
Issyk-Kul, 21-24 September 2015
21-24 September 2015, the Regional Workshop on "Illicit use of Money and Value Transfer Services (MVTS): "Enhancing Inter-Agency working and Financial Intelligence" & "Eleventh regional meeting among the FIUs of the countries in West and Central Asia" were held in Issyk-Kul/the Kyrgyz Republic. The above Regional Workshop was organized within UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring countries under support of European Commission and attended by senior experts from Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan (Regional Programme countries) as well as the Russian Federation, UK and Lithuania (as speakers).
The Regional Workshop was aimed at identification and sharing current good practices, initiatives and typologies in detecting, investigating and disrupting criminal use of MVTS, in regulation and community engagement with Money and Value Transfer Services providers, determination of critical information requirements, collection methodologies and dissemination frameworks regarding criminal use of MVTS.
The workshop was focused towards senior experts in legislative, regulatory and investigative departments from the West and Central Asian countries and highlighted, amongst others, current variations in approaches to Money and Value Transfer Services as well as sharing information on challenges and successes in other regions. The above Regional Workshop also facilitated the identification of areas for development which will enhance each West and Central Asian country's ability to mitigate current and/or future threats from illicit use of Money and Value Transfer
Services. The participants at the workshop discussed issues related to identifying existing gaps in the area of Money and Value Transfer Services and made presentations on the criminal exploitation of MVTS in their countries with case studies, illustrating best practice and lessons learned.
The workshop also served as a platform for signing Memorandum of Understanding between Financial intelligence units of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The MOU between two mentioned countries was signed on 23 September 2015 and would enhance inter-agency cooperation between FIUs.
Eleventh regional meeting among the FIUs of the countries in West and Central Asia" under the CASH initiative was held on 23 September 2015. Representatives of FIUs of West and Central Asia informed on updates on the Regional/Bilateral Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Financing of Terrorism MoUs and updates on exchange of information/requests on Suspicious Financial Transactions.
The above Regional Workshop concluded by adopting a set of recommendation/conclusions with a focus on promoting regional cooperation among the countries in West and Central Asia on MVTS and AML related matters.