New Delhi: India and Qatar on Tuesday held discussions to strengthen cooperation in combating money laundering and terrorism financing, focusing on advanced IT systems, strategic partnerships, and the role of virtual digital assets, according to  the ministry of finance.

Nine-member delegation

A nine-member Qatari delegation, led by Sheikh Ahmed Al Thani, head of Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Qatar, met with Vivek Aggarwal, head of FIU-India, to review current practices and explore areas for collaboration.

The discussions included the use of advanced IT systems, such as India’s Financial Intelligence Network (FINNET) 2.0, and innovative initiatives like FIU-India’s Public-Private Partnership (FPAC) and Private-Private Partnership (ARIFAC) for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), the ministry said.

“The meeting was enriching for both sides as they discussed and touched upon various areas such as the IT systems used by respective jurisdiction, the Public-Private Partnership initiative of FIU-IND (FPAC), Private-Private Partnership for Alliance of Reporting Entities in India For AML/CFT (ARIFAC), strategic analysis and various tools used by the two FIUs as well as FIU-IND’s experience in areas of virtual digital assets service providers (VDA-SPs),” the statement added.

India and Qatar have partnered to fight money laundering and terrorism financing through collaborations between their Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs).

In September, Global terror financing global watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed India in the “regular follow-up” category, a distinction it now shares with only three other G20 countries—the UK, France and Italy.

FATF said India has achieved a high level of technical compliance across the agency’s spectrum of recommendations while taking significant steps to implement measures to tackle illicit finance.

However, the Paris-headquartered body, founded by the G7, said India needs to address a backlog in money laundering cases pending the conclusion of court processes.

“FIU-Qatar and FIU-IND (India) have cooperated over the years, through the informal information exchange on offences related to money laundering, and financing of terrorism,” the ministry statement said.

“Both the FIUs are members of Egmont Group and FATF and have been actively associated with various initiatives taken by these international organisations,” it added.