The Governor of SAMA and Chairman of the Anti Money Laundering Permanent Committee (AMLPC), Dr. Ahmed A. Alkholifey, opened a workshop on the Preparation for Mutual Evaluation organized by the AMLPC in cooperation with the secretariat of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the secretariat of Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) on Tuesday and Wednesday 17-18/5/1438 (14-15/2/2017) at the Institute of Finance. The workshop aims at preparing officials from authorities concerned with combating money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) for the mutual evaluation to which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be subject during 2017-2018 so as to assess its measures relating to combating ML/TF and proliferation financing (PF). Dr. Alkholifey welcomed the speakers who are experts from the FATF and MENAFATF, and the participants in the workshop for their attendance, praising their efforts to enrich the workshop which would positively support and assist the competent authorities in the Kingdom in order to be well prepared for the mutual evaluation in the coming period.
He also emphasized that the Kingdom is aware of the importance of evaluations made for countries and their role in enhancing efforts and actions taken by generally all countries of the world in order to protect communities and nations from ML/TF effects and to ensure effective implementation of all international standards and requirements as well as the best practices for combating these crimes. In addition, Dr. Alkholifey said that the Kingdom continuously exerts efforts to improve its legislative, institutional and technical structures for combating ML/TL in accordance with these standards and requirements.
Dr. Alkholifey applauded the efforts made by the relevant authorities and sectors in the Kingdom in preparation for the third mutual evaluation, which will be conducted by FATF and MENAFATF, including this workshop that aims at reviewing the evaluation procedures and requirements in details to ensure they are better understood by the competent authorities and private sector, so as to obtain a ranking that suits the Kingdom's position and matches its endeavors and support dedicated for the international community in this regard.