On December 13, 2007, the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering andFinancing of Terrorism (EAG) held its Seventh plenum in Sanya of HainanProvince. More than 120 representatives from EAG member countries and observersattended this plenum, and conducted in-depth discussions on issues of combatingmoney laundering and terrorism financing. Mr. Su Ning, Deputy Governor of thePeople’s Bank of China (PBC), Mr. Chen Cheng, Deputy Governor of the HainanProvince, Mr. James Sassoon, Chairman of Financial Action Task Force on MoneyLaundering (FATF), and Mr. Oleg Markov, the new Chairman of EAG addressed theopening ceremony. A Chinese delegation consisting of representatives from thePBC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Supreme Court attended thePlenum.
In his openingspeech, Mr. Su Ning said that money laundering and terrorism financing was amalignant tumor in the global economic and social life. Since the mid-20thcentury, with deepening economic and financial globalization, money launderingactivities have spread from developed countries into developing ones. In orderto safeguard international financial order and security of national economy,and promote global economic and social development, the international communityshould unify and coordinate efforts to standardize domestic and internationallegislation. With 30 years of reform and opening-up, China’seconomy is growing with unprecedented vitality. Meanwhile, as a harbor ofglobal fund, technology, information and talents, Chinaplays an irreplaceable strategic role in the global efforts against moneylaundering and terrorism financing. The Chinese government has attached greatimportance to the work of combating money laundering and terrorism financing,stating in its 2005 Work Report to the Congress to severely crack down on moneylaundering crimes. The effective work in anti-money laundering is not only therequirement of fighting crimes and keeping a fair and just market order, butalso an indispensable component of sustainable economic development andharmonious socialist society.
Mr. Su Ningstressed that the Chinese government had in recent years scored greatachievements in the enforcement of international standard and improvement ofanti-money laundering legislative framework and regulations. Enaction of theLaw of the People’s Republic of China on Anti-Money Laundering and release of aseries of ministerial rules and regulations put in place a legal framework forcombating money laundering and terrorism financing, fully displayed China’sresponsible attitude. Participation in founding of EAG is a significantmilestone in China’s joining of international cooperation incombating money laundering and terrorism financing. On June 28, 2007, China became a member of the FATF. This is theoutcome of many years’ efforts and represents another milestone. All these showthat china’s achievements in a short period has got recognition from theinternational community, and also indicate that China is willing to take theresponsibility and role in the global efforts against money laundering andterrorism financing.
Mr. Su Ningpointed out that China was another EAG member country to join the FATFfollowing Russia, which was conductive to enhancing cooperation in anti- moneylaundering and counter-terrorism financing between China and its neighboringcountries (including the other EAG members), as well as the cooperation betweenthe EAG members and international community in such fields. This will promote internationalcooperation and enforcement of recommendations on AML in a comprehensive andeffective manner. Moreover, it will be of great significance to crackdowns onmoney laundering, corruption and other related crimes, and to safeguarding thesecurity of regional and global economy.
Mr. Chen Chengstated that Hainan province, the largest special economiczone in China, had maintained steady economic growth inrecent years. With strong economic growth, financial ecology has improved, andfinancial industry has entered a stage of accelerated innovation anddevelopment. Hainan is displaying a new image to the world.The work of EAG is of great significance to stronger global cooperation andexchanges in combating money-laundering and terrorism financing, and tocoordinated worldwide efforts to deter the global and regional money launderingand terrorism financing. The government of Hainnan has always paid greatattention to AML work, actively cooperated with the PBC and has made goodachievements. The seventh EAG plenum in Hainanwill provide local AML stuff a good opportunity to learn from their globalcolleagues, as well as a platform for the world to know Hainan.
Mr. Sassoonstarted his speech by paying his tribute to the host country, congratulated Mr.Oleg Markov on his Chairmanship of EAG, and fully appreciated the contributionsof Mr. Viktor Zubkov in combating money laundering and terrorism financingduring his chairmanship. Mr. Sassoon also briefed the audience latestachievements of FATF and main work plan during the presidency of U.K, includingthe dialogue mechanism with private sectors, research of assessing moneylaundering threats, and establishment of national supervision strategy. Hestressed the topics of mutual interests to the FATF and EAG, such as theimportant role of FSRB (FATF style regional body), the great significance ofenlarging membership and mutual assessment. Mr. Sassoon acknowledged thepositive role of EAG in the past years, and hoped that EAG could cooperate withFATF and other regional organizations to combat the increasingly complex moneylaundering and terrorism financing activities.
Mr. Markov alsoexpressed his gratitude to China as the host country. He briefly reviewedthe recent works of EAG, including mutual assessment, research of trend andtypes, technical assistance, dialogue with private sectors and etc., alsoinitiated a outlook on the focus of next phase. He hoped that future work ofEAG would become more constructive and fruitful, supported by the concerted effortsof all member countries and observers.
In addition, theEAG member countries agreed to accept India, Turkmenistan, and Portland as observers.
The Eurasian Groupon Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) is the regionalorganization for combating money laundering and terrorism financing with thelargest geographical and population coverage. It was founded in Moscow in October 2004 by Russia,China, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tadzhikistan and Belarus. In December 2005, the Republic of Uzbekistan was accepted as the seventh full membercountry.
