2023-06-15 20:32:54
Friday, June 16, 2023 – 12:32 AM
DUBAI, June 15, WAM/ The Executive Office for Control and Non-Proliferation hosted a regional workshop specialized in combating proliferation financing, which was organized in partnership with the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime “UNODC”, with the participation of a group of experts. Experts and delegations from countries during the period from 12 to 14 June.
His Excellency Talal Al-Tunaiji, Director of the Executive Office for Control and Non-Proliferation, confirmed in his speech that opened the workshop that one of the priorities that the UAE focuses on is strengthening the system of combating financial crimes, especially those related to financing terrorism and proliferation. Therefore, state institutions, including the Executive Office for Control and Non-Proliferation, are keen To cooperate and coordinate to ensure the sustainability of qualification and raise the capabilities and competence of workers from the public and private sectors, and to work side by side in protecting the financial system from the exploitation of funds or assets for the purposes of carrying out illegal actions that may harm the national economy and threaten the security and safety of society.
He pointed out that cooperation at the national level and sharing financial information to carry out the financial investigation is a fundamental pillar for combating proliferation financing crimes, and that the existence of clear operational frameworks among all concerned parties contributed effectively to strengthening investigation and prosecution mechanisms, identifying all illegal funds and assets, and depriving proliferation financiers of benefiting. Including support for illegal activities related to financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as the case for partnership between the public and private sectors, where the periodic meetings resulted in enhancing the effectiveness of applying targeted financial sanctions measures and setting indicators through which it is possible to infer the existence of suspicious operations that may be related to evading sanctions. .
His Excellency stressed that the UAE was a pioneer in the Middle East and North Africa region in establishing a specialized committee for dialogue with the private sector represented by the financial sectors and specific non-financial businesses and professions, in order to consider how to develop the information exchange mechanism and listen to the opinions of the private sector in order to enhance the effectiveness of combating crimes and not Especially financing proliferation and evading sanctions.
The workshop focused on discussing topics such as clarifying and defining proliferation financing in accordance with Security Council Resolutions No. 1540, 1718 and 2231, and international standards issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and identifying the risks of proliferation financing and the patterns used by criminals and evaders of sanctions to pass illegal funds in support of programs Financing proliferation.
The workshop dealt with practical examples of how to use open information sources “available on the Internet” to collect intelligence and track funds and operations related to financing proliferation and evading sanctions. It also included presentations by private sector institutions on identifying proliferation financing risks and the mechanism for reducing them.
The workshop also included a presentation by the Executive Office for Control and Non-Proliferation on the UAE’s experience in the field of combating proliferation financing, the concerted efforts of national institutions in this field in terms of the institutional and legal framework and the list of restricted dual-use goods, and what the state has done in consolidating the understanding of the private sector to use This list, and the electronic tools used in exchanging information between national authorities and reporting on operations suspected of being linked to proliferation financing, and referring to the state’s efforts in the draft national assessment of proliferation risks and the stages of collecting and analyzing information and preparing the study according to the methodology contained in the guideline for assessing proliferation financing risks. Armament issued by the Financial Action Task Force.
During the workshop, the risks arising from the use of modern technologies and virtual currencies to finance terrorist persons, entities or organizations to support proliferation programs were discussed, and tools and programs used for investigation purposes and tracking of the transfer of virtual funds were identified.
These regional workshops are an effective platform for presenting the experiences and expertise of the United Nations Office for Combating Drugs and Crime and the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Group (MENAFATF), and reviewing the best experiences of state institutions, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Arab Republic of Egypt.
Awad Mukhtar / Zakaria Mohieddin
1686861736
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