From September 22 to 27, 2024, the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) was held in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. A delegation from the People’s Bank of China attended the meeting.
This annual meeting heard the APG Work Report for 2023, adopted the APG Strategic Plan for 2024-2028, and proposed three major goals, namely, assisting members in implementing anti-money laundering (AML) policies, conducting high-quality assessments, and carrying out technical assistance, training and typologies research.
The meeting reviewed and approved the assessment reports on AML and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) for such countries as Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Nauru, Marshall Islands and India, as well as the follow-up assessment reports for Vietnam and Nepal.
The meeting also reported on the progress of technical assistance work in the Asia-Pacific region and the arrangements for the 2024 typologies research seminar. At the meeting, the APG held a forum on advocating diversity and inclusion for AML employees, calling for and encouraging more women to participate in AML work. Ms. Violaine Clerc, Secretary-General of the Financial Action Task Force, attended and addressed the forum.
The meeting approved a new governance committee composed of Australia, Canada, Japan, Macao, East Timor, Bhutan, Marshall Islands and the United States. According to the meeting, Japan will succeed Canada as the co-chair of the next APG and adopted its co-chair priorities, including preparing for a new round of APG assessment, strengthening the AML system construction for APG members, and monitoring and responding to changes in the financial system. The Japanese co-chair will serve from the end of this annual meeting until the end of the 2026 annual meeting.
