UNODC strengthens the capacity of the competent national authorities of Kyrgyz Republic to counter the financing of terrorism

On 24-28 August, the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia jointly with OSCE and the competent national authorities of the Kyrgyz Republic conducted the Investigation Course on Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) in Issyk-Kul.

Twenty national experts and practitioners, including five women, from the headquarters and regional offices of the General Prosecutor’s Office, the State Financial Intelligence Service, the Ministry of the Interior, and the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan participated in the event.

Three national trainers of Kyrgyzstan took part in Train the Trainer course within the framework of the programme. Train the Trainer course forms the pool of national trainers, increases their competence, and shares best lessons’ practices.

Chairman of the State Financial Intelligence Service under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic Mr. Kanatbek Turgunbekov stated in his opening remarks that the main goal of the programme is to improve the efficiency of interagency cooperation in accordance with international best practices to strengthen the country’s national capacity to counter terrorism financing and to implement the recommendations of the EAG mutual assessment for compliance with FATF standards.

The course was developed by the UNODC AML/CFT Adviser and international AML/CFT experts with an emphasis on the national legislation of Kyrgyzstan. The course modality is based on practical exercises and involves interagency cooperation.

“During the course, the participants will be divided into groups and each group will represent a number of competent authorities and agencies. This kind of approach increases interagency cooperation and encourages the agencies to interact on all levels. Within four days of the course, representatives from respective agencies will form a networking environment to effectively work on CFT issues after the training course,” said Mr. Aliaksandr Vadziany, UNODC Regional Adviser on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism in Central Asia and South Caucasus.

During the closing session, the Head of UNODC Programme Office in Kyrgyzstan Mr. Andrey Seleznev emphasized the importance of the CFT programme implementation in the country considering current situation and necessity of trainings for regional specialists.

The course was conducted under the joint OSCE multi-year programme on “Countering the Financing of Terrorism” which aims to strengthen the capacity of competent authorities of the Kyrgyz Republic. National partners on implementation of the programme are the State Committee for National Security of the Kyrgyz Republic (SCNC) and the State Financial Intelligence Service under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic (SFIS). The programme is based on the implementation of UNSCRs 1267, 1373, 2462 and other related resolutions and FATF standards.

The training course was conducted under UNODC Programme for Central Asia with the expert support of the Global Programme against Money-Laundering and with the financial support of Russian Federation and Norway.

 Article in Russian language