Islamabad: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Ministry of Interior launched a four-year technical assistance framework on today which aims to strengthen the criminal justice response in Pakistan to prevent and counter terrorism.

According to the derails, peaking on the occasion, Minister for Interior Ijaz Shah expressed gratitude to members of the international community for the trust bestowed upon the government of Pakistan and its counter-terrorism apparatus through this project.

Country Representative UNODC Dr Jeremy Milsom said we have come a long way since the initial discussions on this programme.

Secretary Ministry of Interior Yousaf Naeem highlighted the objective of the newly launched programme, and acknowledged the commitment of UNODC in delivering support to Pakistan.

Framework of this programme would encourage provinces to adopt a harmonized approach and common practices in preventing and countering terrorism, while enhancing information sharing and coordination amongst stakeholders.

The expected results of the Programme would assist in and contribute towards implementation of the National Action Plan and National Internal Security Policy of Pakistan.

SECP and UN conducted workshops on terror financing

Earlier, The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), in collaboration with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), conducted series of workshops for SECP regulated financial institutions to enhance understanding of the risk-based approach to prevent money laundering and terror financing.

Over 500 professionals from Securities and Commodities markets, Insurance/Takaful companies, Non-Banking Finance Companies and Modaraba sector participated in 15 full day workshops held in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore in November 2019.

Through these highly productive workshops, Compliance Officers were trained on the application of Risk Based Approach in light of the National Risk Assessment 2019, particularly focusing on the transnational TF risks. The concept of the Risk Based Approach under the SECP AML/CFT Regulations, 2018 was explained.

The training aimed to enhance understanding of the participants on how to be more vigilant against the latest ML/TF risks faced by their respective organizations and know their role in mitigating those risks.