An international meeting on Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) will take place in Manama on Sunday. The expert-level meeting, jointly organised by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance, will address challenges relating to all forms of CFT.
The significance of the event, announced at the Paris International Conference on Peace and Security in Iraq in September, was hailed by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa, who said that "this meeting is in line with Bahrain’s contribution to the international effort to eradicate terrorism".
The Minister stressed that much of the success of the global war on terror depends on blocking the transfer of financial funds to terrorist groups. He also called for further similar gatherings in order to agree on radical approaches to eradicate terrorism, the first enemy of global peace and stability.
The Minister of Finance, Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, highlighted the importance of the financial and banking aspects of the international CFT efforts. "There is a pressing need to prevent the financing of terrorism and counter the illicit transfers of funds," he said.
The meeting will discuss strengthening the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions relating to CFT and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations, and will also address the means of achieving better international and domestic co-operation and collaboration between states and concerned bodies, as well as encouraging capacity building and sharing methods of identifying terrorist financing risks and vulnerabilities.
Delegates taking part in the meeting represent a wide range of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Arab League member states along with US, UK, France, Russia, China and other countries. A number of regional and international organizations are also represented. The list includes the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its Bahrain – based regional style body; the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF).
During the meeting, a Bahrain delegation will discuss the Kingdom’s efforts to combat the financing of terrorism and put forward recommendations on how best to enhance the global battle against the phenomenon of terrorist financing.