Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A meeting of the expert group to agree on the draft Agreement on the Establishment of the International Center for Assessing the Risks of Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime and Financing of Terrorism was held on 9 November 2022 at the CIS headquarters. 

Representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Secretariat of the Council of Heads of Financial Intelligence Units of the CIS Member States, as well as employees of the CIS Executive Committee took part in the event in the format of a videoconference. This was reported by the press service of the CIS Executive Committee.

The experts considered the comments and proposals received from the CIS member states, and, taking into account the reasoned opinions, identified the provisions of the draft Agreement that require additional elaboration. The CIS Executive Committee was invited to send the materials of the meeting of the expert group to the Commonwealth countries.

The next meeting of the expert group is scheduled for January 2023.

The initiative to create the International Center for Assessing the Risks of Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime and the Financing of Terrorism belongs to the Council of Heads of Financial Intelligence Units of the CIS Member States. The Council also developed and approved the draft Agreement on the establishment of the International Center.

It is expected that the center will be an infrastructure that ensures the exchange of data and electronic documents, which will contribute to the improvement of cooperation between the Commonwealth states in the field of combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, maintaining effective interstate information interaction through the work of financial intelligence units of the CIS states and ensuring the conduct of supranational risk assessment in this area.