June 15, 2023
A round table on “Cooperation in the CSTO, CIS, SCO area in the field of combating terrorism financing, including through drug trafficking proceeds: promising forms and directions of development” organized by the Executive Committee of the SCO RATS and CIS Anti-Terrorism Center was held on June 15, 2023 in Tashkent, at the headquarters of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The event was attended by representatives of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Collective Security Treaty Organization, Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, Coordination Service of the Council of Border Troops Commanders, Committee of Heads of Law Enforcement Units of the Council of Heads of Customs Services of the CIS Member States, Office for Coordination of Fight on Organized Crime and Other Dangerous Types of Crimes in the CIS states, Rosfinmonitoring, customs services of Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, officers of the diplomatic corps of India, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Pakistan and Tajikistan.
The meeting reviewed cooperation between relevant international organizations on maintaining security in areas of their common responsibility. Views were exchanged on the trends and specifics of the threats associated with drug trafficking and financing of terrorism, as well as the most efficient methods and practices for their suppression and neutralization.
In his statement the First Deputy Head of the CIS ATC Zhanat Saipoldaev said that operations of international terrorist organizations in certain regions adjacent to the CIS remained a key factor influencing the formation and development of security threats to the Commonwealth states. He stressed the importance of measures aimed at identifying and suppressing the activities of unscrupulous persons engaged in the sale and transit of precursors through the countries bordering Afghanistan. He expressed interest in early adoption of an act of international law on countering criminal use of information and communication technologies, as well as creation of an international institute of risk assessment and identification of suspicious financial flows and sources of financing of terrorism.
He drew attention to the need of close cooperation between the competent authorities and relevant international organizations in the field of combating cross-border crime in all its forms and manifestations, noting the importance of consolidating the efforts of the entire world community in improving the international legal mechanisms in this area.
Another CIS ATC officer present at the meeting in his report focused on some aspects of cooperation in the field of combating the financing of terrorism and made a number of expert proposals aimed at ensuring efficient countermeasures in the framework of identifying and suppressing channels for smuggling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors through the territory of the Commonwealth states.
The event was carried out at a high organizational and representative level.
