The next plenary meeting of the Council of Europe Expert Group on Money-Laundering Moneyval will take place at the end of February in Strasburg. The Director General of the National Bank of Azerbaijan (NBA) and Head of the Inter-Departmental Working Group on Fight with Money-Laundering, Rufat Aslanli, informed Trend that for the first time it will be held in co-operation with Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). Taking into consideration that FATF brings together more than 25 countries, the meeting will be favorable to establish close and bilateral relations. According to Aslanli, the Working Group has already presented the report on the work implemented in Azerbaijan to Moneyval. The report of Azerbaijan will be considered in the bureau within the plenary meeting. The Azerbaijan delegation will also attend this meeting. At each of the meeting of Moneyval, which takes place thrice annually, the countries inform on the measures taken in the direction of fight with money-laundering and financial terrorism.
Presently the Inter-Departmental Working Group is carrying out work for the second round of the assessment. In addition, the Government tries to take all necessary measures, particularly the law draft ratification On Fight with money-laundering and financial terrorism. Devising the law draft and creating financial exploration body are one of the key requirements of Moneyval.
The first round of Azerbaijan assessment took place on May 2003. Azerbaijan was referred as category meeting the standards of FATF countries.