ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari shared “some good news” on Monday, announcing that Britain has officially removed Pakistan from the list of ‘high-risk third countries’.
Sharing a picture of the official document on his Twitter handle, the foreign minister said that this decision was taken on the early completion of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan by Pakistan.
“His Majesty’s Treasury issued an amendment to the UK’s High Risk Third Countries list on 14 November 2022 by way of an amendment. This amendment removes Pakistan from the list in accordance with the FATF decision of 21 October 2022.
“The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office recognizes Pakistan’s progress in improving its controls on money laundering and terrorist financing,” it added. In April 2021, the UK government added Pakistan to a list of undesirable 21 high-risk countries with inadequate money laundering and terrorist financing controls.
Some good news. The United Kingdom has officially removed Pakistan from its list of ‘High Risk Third Countries’ following our early completion of FATF action plans. 🇵🇰 🤝 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/clcGHy5771
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) November 14, 2022
This list of 21 countries – issued by the UK government – replicates the FATF’s list of countries designated as high risk or under surveillance. Pakistan shares the list with conflict-prone countries like Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe at number 15. According to the UK government, countries in this category are at risk due to weak tax controls and a lack of checks and balances on terrorist financing and money laundering.
However, the FATF, the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, finally removed Pakistan from its gray list in October after four years. The president of the world body, Raja Kumar, had announced that Pakistan’s name had been removed from the “grey list” as the country had addressed all the 34 points of the action plan.
