The outcome of the II Forum of the Parliamentarians of the EAG Member States

On 6 June, 2023 the II Forum of Parliamentarians was held in Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan bringing together the parliamentarians, including 4 vice-speakers of the national parliaments of the EAG Member States, as well as invited representatives of the Parliament of Armenia and delegations from Iran, Mongolia, USA, UAE and UN CTO.

Once again, the parliamentarians gathered at the EAG platform to discuss the most current and common threats and challenges related to the spread of terrorist and extremist ideology and radicalisation of youth in the countries of the Eurasian region.

During the discussions, the participants shared their experiences in implementing and monitoring the effectiveness of legislative measures to combat terrorism, extremism, propaganda of radical religious ideas, incitement to commit unlawful acts and criminal use of civil society institutions.

The parliamentarians unanimously supported the idea of the need to consolidate efforts to counter the above-mentioned negative trends by suppressing their methods and channels of financing. Some EAG Member States provided examples of the harmonisation of sectoral legislation to this end.

The representatives of parliaments satisfactorily noted that the Forum has become an effective and demanded platform for developing approaches to address contemporary challenges and threats, as well as for strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation in combatting money laundering and terrorist financing.

The participants of the Forum adopted the declaratory Rules of Procedure, which describe the organisational issues of the Forum's activities and formulate its status as an open platform for sharing experiences and best practices, discussing the most important issues and developing common approaches to the implementation of the FATF Recommendations in the national legislation of the EAG Member States.

At the end of the Forum, a final declaration was adopted stressing the need to strengthen regionally coordinated efforts to combat the spread of extremist and terrorist ideas, the radicalisation of young people and the involvement of non-profit organisations in illegal activities by harmonising approaches to legislative measures.

EAG Secretariat

Declaration of the outcomes of the II Forum of Parliamentarians of the EAG Member States

Based on the results of the discussions at the II Forum of Parliamentarians (representatives of relevant parliamentary committees) of the Member States of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG), the participants noted the followings with satisfaction.

Given the common nature for all the EAG Member States, the combat against the spread of extremist and terrorist ideas and the radicalisation of youth and the substitution of traditional theological values by pseudo-religious teachings through the suppression of financing channels for these activities should be regional and shall be coordinated.

In this regard, the Forum calls upon the EAG Member States to take measures on harmonization of the approaches to legislative regulation of combating regional risks of terrorist and extremist financing, as well as to counter the radicalisation of youth and the involvement of non-governmental non-profit organisations in illegal activities. 

The Forum considers its main task as organizing and maintaining professional discussions of high-level experts on developing legislative approaches to mitigate the supranational risks and threats identified in the EAG work, disregarding the evolving international situation and other geopolitical factors, without imposing any obligations, authorities or requirements on the EAG Member States.

The Forum maintains the status of a permanent platform for interaction between the parliaments of the EAG Member States and endeavours to be open to all interested EAG observers, international organisations as well as the member states of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the FATF-style regional bodies.