Sheikh Mansour leads anti-money laundering and terrorist financing committee

Deputy Prime Minister reviews progress on countering financial crime

Sheikh Mansour leads a meeting of officials who tackle financial crime. Wam

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, has led a high-level co-ordination meeting on tackling money laundering and the funding of terrorism.

Presentations on the Emirates’ strategy were delivered by representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation and the Executive Office for Anti-money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism.

They discussed the ways in which the UAE is working closely with its international partners to identify and punish criminals and to disrupt illegal financial networks, state news agency Wam reported.

The UAE has brought in reforms to prevent financial crime in recent years and will continue to strengthen its approach in line with international standards, Wam said.

The UAE Expert Group has held 44 meetings with its counterparts in other countries, with a particular focus on the training and advancement of financial crime experts in the Emirates.

Developing “a strong talent pool of anti-financial crime professionals” is a major goal, Wam said.

This has raised awareness of progress in the field and helped the UAE to establish direct lines of communication between its own experts and their counterparts abroad.

The country’s partnerships in the financial crime field were noted, such as the UAE-UK Partnership to Tackle Illicit Financial Flows and the EU Structural Dialogue.

Wam said workshops and 31 capacity-building sessions in key jurisdictions had taken place and that they had led to an enriched exchange of best practice at the international level.