Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 14
By Ilaha Mammadli - Trend:
The Council of Europe's Experts Committee on Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) approved a voluntary report on progress in this area submitted by Azerbaijan's government.
The report was approved at MONEYVAL's 49th plenary session, held Dec. 8-11 in Strasbourg, despite all the efforts of the Armenian delegation, said Azerbaijan's State Securities Committee Dec. 8.
MONEYVAL also decided to exclude Azerbaijan from the current reporting regime no later than 2017.
The report covered the situation around the implementation of expert recommendations after the fourth round of assessment of Azerbaijan's effective regime for fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in 2014.
The discussions on voluntary progress report praised the measures taken by the Azerbaijani government to improve the legal, institutional and operational environment in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
During the plenary meeting of MONEYVAL, the Azerbaijani delegation was led by Rufat Aslanli, head of the State Committee for Securities.
Azerbaijan has been represented in MONEYVAL since 2002 after the country became a full member of the Council of Europe in 2011.
MONEYVAL carries out evaluation of the system of anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism in order to bring it into line with international standards in the member countries.
The fourth evaluation of Azerbaijan's national system was carried out by MONEYVAL in 2014, while the fifth one can be held in 2020. Currently, the methodology of evaluating the national systems of MONEYVAL members is under discussion.