Determining the main areas of cooperation between the SFIS and the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek for 2019

A meeting between G S. Anarbaev, chairman of the State Financial Intelligence Service under the Kyrgyz Government, and Pierre von Arx, head of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek, was held on 12 February 2019.

Among the outcomes of the meeting was the signing of the Plan for Cooperation between the SFIS and the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek for 2019, developed with a view to implementing OSCE's "Combating Corruption and Financial Crimes" programme.

According to the SFIS chairman, all measures envisaged in the Plan will help eliminate the main shortcomings identified in the mutual evaluation of Kyrgyzstan's AML/CFT regime, conducted by the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism.

In addition, the SFIS chairman thanked the OSCE for its multi-year support of Kyrgyz Government's initiatives to improve the country's AML/CFT system.

The implementation of the Plan, according to the head of the OSCE Programme Office in Bishkek, will strengthen Kyrgyzstan's financial security and stability and improve international cooperation.

The strategic goal of cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and the OSCE is to help Kyrgyzstan avoid a repeat grey-listing by the FATF, said Ambassador Pierre von Arx. To this end, the OSCE is ready to further assist Kyrgyzstan in implementing the EAG-endorsed Action Plan, including in building capacity of the SFIS staff and strengthening interagency and international cooperation.

The Plan calls for action in the following priority areas:

1) implementation by supervisors, financial institutions and non-financial businesses of the risk-based approach;

2) upgrading the skills of the SFIS staff in conducting operational and strategic analysis and using new information technologies; and

3) strengthening cooperation between the SFIS and its foreign counterparts.

Participants noted that the majority of the planned measures were aimed at upskilling the personnel of the competent authorities in Kyrgyzstan's regions, which will help speed up the implementation of the Presidential Decree "On declaring 2019 the Year of Regional Development and Digitalization of the Country".

In addition, the Plan calls for the provision of support to non-profit organizations in conducting a TF risk assessment, as provided for in the National Action Plan to Build an Open RF Government 2018-2020, endorsed by RF Government Directive 360-r dated October 16, 2018.

State Financial Intelligence Service under the Government of Kyrgyzstan