WASHINGTON: During a briefing at the US Dept of State apropos her four-day sojourn in Pakistan Ambassador Alice Wells maintained that US strongly urged Islamabad to implement its FAFT action plan as IMF funding could get affected if Pakistan did not meet FATF regulations, if it is blacklisted, that would be devastating for Pakistan’s economic reform program and for its ability to attract investors.
She held: “It’s not a political process, but we certainly support and stand ready to assist Pakistan as it implements these obligations…FATF is a technical process. There has been an action plan that was presented to Pakistan. It’s a question of fulfilling the requirements that have been spelt out and that are asked of all countries in the international system. I welcomed efforts by Pakistan to meet its counter-terrorism financing obligations under FATF…We strongly encourage Pakistan to work with FATF and the international community to fully satisfy its action plan commitments. Completion of the FATF action plan is critical to Pakistan’s economic reform efforts, including its IMF [International Monetary Fund] program, as well as for demonstrating sustained and irreversible action against all militant groups based in Pakistan without distinction.”
Nevertheless, Alice Wells went on to state that: “Washington is pleased to see progress by Pakistan towards fulfilling FATF obligations. There is a meeting underway currently in Beijing where Pakistan is presenting its actions to the task force. And so I defer to that task force to make its evaluation. But the more evidence of Pakistan’s seriousness in both documenting its economy and in shrinking the space for militants to be able to take advantage of Pakistan’s either banking system or territory, the more confidence that the international community and business community will have in working with Pakistan. We’ve seen obvious progress in our relations with Pakistan, from the high-level engagement such as the President’s warm and constructive meeting with Prime Minister Khan at Davos to the restoration of the International Military Education and Training programs.”
Newspakistan.tv
