21st Annual meeting, Kathmandu, Nepal

Over 520 senior delegates from 49 countries and 12 international organisations came together in Kathmandu, Nepal during the week of 21 to 27 July 2018 to convene the APG’s 21st annual meeting and annual technical assistance forum. The event (the largest ever) was chaired by Deputy Commissioner Leanne Close of the Australian Federal Police and Mr D M Rupasinghe, Director of the Sri Lanka Financial Intelligence Unit. 

During the week, APG members adopted four significant mutual evaluation reports. The reports - for the Cook Islands, Indonesia, Myanmar and Palau - were analysed and discussed in detail over two full days and will now be subject to post-plenary quality and consistency review prior to publication.  Final publication on the APG website is expected in early September 2018.  The APG also adopted a number of follow-up reports for APG members and for joint APG/FATF members and also agreed on revised evaluation procedures for the coming year reflecting recent changes to global procedures.

APG members adopted a CFT Operational Plan as part of a global strategy to address the concerns related to terrorist financing. The plan contains a proposal for the establishment of a working group to support FATF’s work in developing guidance on conducting terrorism financing risk assessments. 

Also discussed and adopted were the following important typologies reports:

• APG/MENAFATF report on Social Media and Terrorism Financing Report. The report indicates the scale of the problem both regionally and globally, providing a range of case studies, key findings and good practices to assist jurisdictions. The report is expected to be published in November 2018.
• APG/FATF report on Financial Flows from Human Trafficking. The report builds on a wide range of information to gain a clear understanding of the money laundering and terrorist financing risks related to human trafficking.
• The 2018 APG Yearly Typologies Report includes approximately 153 cases received from 17 member jurisdictions and two APG observers.
• Human Trafficking and People Smuggling Project (Phase 2). This project is conducted solely by the APG and includes people smuggling and implementation support for measures to combat human trafficking and smuggling.

A new joint typologies project - EAG/APG Terrorism Financing & Proceeds of Crime (including Organised Crime) - was also approved.  The project will focus on the techniques and trends associated with the use of proceeds of crime including from organised crime for financing terrorism.

Members also agreed on a new project on de-risking aimed at assisting members to prepare national plans of action to address the drivers of de-risking along with support for the development of risk-based supervision manuals for the Money Value or Transfer Services (MVTS) sector.

The APG’s Annual Forum on Technical Assistance and Training held in tandem with the annual meeting included 31 meetings over five days, comprised of 27 individual sessions between members and donors of AML/CFT technical assistance. Three sub-regional meetings were also convened. These discussions led to important information-sharing and coordination mechanisms among the APG’s members, observers, donors and providers.

Asia/Pacific Group