About the 8th EAG Plenary meeting

The 8th EAG Plenary meeting was held on July 16-17, 2008 in Issuk-Kul region (Kyrgyzstan).

The 8th EAG Plenary meeting was held on July 16-17, 2008 in Issuk-Kul region (Kyrgyzstan) with the participation EAG member-states (Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), as well as the representatives of observer states and organizations (Armenia, Afghanistan, Great Britain, Georgia, India, Itlay, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, USA, Turkey, Ukraine, FATF, World Bank, UNODC, OSCE, EurAsEC, CIS, EBRD and MONEYVAL).

The participants of the Plenary meeting discussed and approved the joint FATF, MONEYVAL and EAG report on the results of the evaluation of Russia’s compliance with the international standards on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), as well as the recommendations to correct the deficiencies revealed in the course of the evaluation. This report has also been approved on June 19 and July 11 by the FATF and MONEYVAL Plenary meetings accordingly. The Plenary meeting also approved the the follow-up reports of China and Kyrgyzstan on the implementation of recommendations of the mutual evaluations. 

In connection to the FATF statement on the AML/CFT situation in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan the Plenary meeting heard the information on these two countries. The Plenary meeting welcomed the desire of Uzbekistan to expand international cooperation and establish a constructive dialogue on AML/CFT issues with governments and international organizations. The Plenary urged Uzbekistan to make concrete steps to reinstate all of the components of its AML/CFT system and confirmed the desire of the EAG to provide Uzbekistan the necessary assistance on this issue and decided to send a mission to assess the situation on the ground in Uzbekistan. 

The Plenary discussion on the Tajikistan mutual evaluation report has been rescheduled for December 2008 due to the fact that the report prepared by the World Bank has not been disseminated to the EAG. Tajikistan should agree to the transfer of the report to the EAG Secretariat by October 15, 2008. 

The Plenary meeting considered the issues of EAG AML/CFT typologies research, technical assistance to create and strengthen the national AML/CFT systems of EAG member-states.