On six to 11 January 2025 Namibia hosted the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Joint Group for Africa meeting in Windhoek.
The meeting was attended by high level delegations from 11 African countries, representatives of the FATF, various international cooperation partners and regional affiliation bodies such as the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) of which Namibia is a founding member.
During the meeting, African countries currently on the FATF’s list of jurisdictions under enhanced monitoring, commonly referred to as the “grey list”, presented updates on their country reports.
These reports highlighted the progress each country has made in addressing the strategic deficiencies in their respective Action Plans. Namibia’s representation at the meeting included delegates from several key agencies including the Financial Intelligence Centre, the Namibian Police, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Business and Intellectual Property Authority, the Namibia Revenue Agency, the Master of the High Court and the Bank of Namibia.
Additionally, Namibia presented its first compulsory report at the meeting and engaged with the assessors of the Joint Group to clarify any issues related to the Report.
“Following this engagement, the Joint Group will evaluate Namibia’s overall progress in addressing the strategic deficiencies outlined in our Action Plan,” said the director of Namibia’s Financial Intelligence Centre Mr Bryan Eiseb.
“Thereafter, the overall assessment will be submitted by the Joint Group to the FATF for consideration and adoption in February 2025.
“The decision by, and subsequent approval of, Namibia to host this important meeting signals a strong resolve towards ensuring that the anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing and counter-proliferation financing regime in the country are aligned to international standards.
“Moreover, Namibia remains a strong partner in the global efforts to fight money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation.”
In the photo: Heads of the delegations from various African countries which attended the high level financial intelligence meeting held in Windhoek recently.
